A Gift
by Demon Flame
Summary: Naruto has caught the attention of the Shinigami so he gives the 6 year old naruto a gift. But the gift doesnt know he's a gift and must figure out what to do on his own. No one ever said Shinigami liked to make things easy. Rewrite chapter ten
1. Chapter 1

Shinigami watched the small blonde jinchuriki impassively as his village scorned him. It was nothing new by any means; those who imprisoned his tailed beasts were always met with hate and the occasional violence. What was surprising was that the boy persevered and even managed to make a few friends with a group of boys his own age. And what really held Shinigami's attention was that the boy even aspired to one day become strong enough to protect the village that hated him. Souls like his were rare, too rare for his liking, and when he did come across one it was hard not to peek in to its life every now and then.

He had first come across the boy on the day of his birth, a human by the name of Minato Namikaze, had called him forth to imprison his nine-tailed fox into the human's offspring. This was the first time he had been summoned by Man and at the time he was none too pleased at the audacity. In exchange for his service he had taken the yin half of Kyuubi's soul and all of the mortal's in to his stomach to battle for all eternity. A fitting punishment for one who dared call him forth. Admittedly the mortal had known his fate from the moment he performed the hand seals and even Shinigami held a certain amount of respect for a mere Man who would give up so much for absolutely nothing in return.

For the last two years he had been toying with an idea. This jinchuriki had earned his favor and in return he wished to bestow the boy with a gift of sorts. For a while he thought about restoring his father to life but immediately dismissed that idea, mortals would be summoning him relentlessly to do their bidding after that. No, he needed something that would only show the boy his favor, something that would help him to change the world of Man.

A slow smile crept across his lips as the perfect idea came to mind. With a wave of his hand he summoned the mortal forth from his stomach. His smile grew when he saw the man before him haggard and on his knees.

"Mortal." He said, pleased with the way his deep voice rumbled forth and startling the man.

Shinigami was impressed to see that the Man didn't cower but instead bowed his head to the God before him, mortals were always interesting creatures.

"Instead of battling in my stomach with the Yin portion of Kyuubi for the rest of eternity, I have decided to present you as a gift to a favored mortal of mine." He said.

The mortal stilled and inclined his head up but didn't meet the God of Death's eyes. "Gift?" he said unsure.

"Yes a gift." He said before chuckling.

With another wave of his hand he dismissed the mortal back into the realm of the living, well almost. He would soon find out that he was only a wondering soul confined to the boundaries of his beloved village. The only one who would be able to see and hear him would be the boy. To further his punishment for summoning him however, the man would have no memory of his offspring or of ever becoming leader of the sate filled village.

Shinigami let out another haunting chuckle, after all this time and he still managed to impress himself with his own brilliance.


	2. Chapter 2

Minato opened his eyes to the too bright light of the sun and had the feeling he had forgotten something very important. In all likeliness it probably had something to do with why he was lying next to the memorial stone of all places. He had absolutely no idea why he was there or what he had been doing before then. The last important thing he could remember was Obito's death, he knew there were other things after that but for the life of him he couldn't remember a single thing.

He groaned as stood up, unsure of why his muscles felt so sore like they hadn't been used in quiet awhile. But that didn't make sense, he was an active shinobi, it just must be from lying on the ground. Why he had decided to nap on the ground was beyond him. Luckily there was no one around to see him, most notably Kushina; she would have a field day if she caught him napping at the training grounds.

It was then he noticed the calf-length coat he was wearing. It had a high collar and short sleeves, fitting comfortably over his jonin attire; it even had red flames at the bottom. Where the hell had this come from? Oh well, it did look kind of cool, might as well keep it.

XxX

Naruto pushed himself higher on the swing as he watched the parents rush their children away from him. He didn't know why he wasn't allowed to play with the other children when their parents were around and no one would tell him. In fact now that he thought about it most of the grownups wouldn't even look at him. Oh well one day he was going to be Hokage just like the Old Man and then they would all look up to him. Even if they did hate him, he was going to protect them all!

He looked up from his day dreaming to see a tall man with spiky blonde hair just like him, walking through the crowd. But the moment Naruto blinked he was gone. "Weird." He muttered to himself.

With one last push he jumped off the swing and ran out of the playground and into the streets. He didn't notice the adults giving him a wide berth as he ran toward his favorite ramen stand, the only restaurant the Old Man would allow him to go to. He wasn't sure why he was only allowed to go to that one ramen stand but didn't really think anything of it because the ramen there was awesome.

XxX

Minato wasn't sure what the hell was going on. He had thought he was trapped in some type of genjutsu but when he tried to dispel it nothing happened. He was really considering the option of freaking out completely but knew that wouldn't help at all. He needed to remain calm and figure out what was going on. He knew he wasn't trapped in a genjutsu that much was obvious, especially after the unsettling incident when a man had walked through him.

He was beginning to wonder if he had died; the idea wasn't appealing at all and was his least favorite even if it was his only idea at the time. But something was bothering him, if he was dead then why could he still feel his chakra? Did ghosts even have chakra? Maybe this was some sort of astral projection, yeah that was it. He was on a mission somewhere and Rin was healing him right now, he would wake up any moment now. He couldn't shake the sinking sensation in his stomach as he knew that it probably wasn't true.

Maybe he could find out what was going on from the Hokage. He was about to start making his way to the Hokage tower to help past the time when a blonde kid ran right through him. It was possibly the most unpleasant thing he had ever experienced. But unlike the man who had first invaded his personal space and kept walking the kid skidded to a stop in front of him and turned around to look at him.

He had never seen this kid in his life, in fact if he didn't know any better he would say the kid looked a little too much like him for coincidence. He had the same spiky blonde hair and the same bright blue eyes. The only really weird feature was that the boy seemed to have whiskers on his cheeks. The boy tilted his head to the side as he met Minato's eyes; he blinked and shook his head before running off again.

Had that kid seen him?

There was something weird about that kid, he thought as he watched him run off. The villagers he noticed seemed to go out of their way to avoid being anywhere close to the boy.

Weird.

He turned his attention back to the task at hand and turned toward the Hokage Tower with his head bowed in thought. Why couldn't he remember what had happened to him, it was all so very hazy as though there was a thick fog in his mind preventing him from accessing the information. Did the Third even know what happened to him yet?

He continued his trek down the streets of his beloved village and glanced up at the Hokage Monument. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks and the blood drain from his face, figuratively of course. There was the face of the first, the second, the third and then a fourth. The face was familiar but he just couldn't place, but then again the rock monuments faces only sort of resembled the men they were sculpted after.

How long had he been dead or whatever he was? He needed to hurry up and get to the tower. Using his infamous speed he ran across rooftops until he reached an open window just outside the Hokage's office. He was confused however, to see that the Third was in his Hokage robes and hat smoking his pipe and doing paper work.

He jumped silently into the room and looked around. It didn't appear to have changed at all the only knew thing was a fourth picture on the wall next to the pictures of the other three Hokage. He walked forward to get a better look at the picture of the fourth Hokage, he felt his jaw drop as he saw himself in that picture labeled as the Fourth.

What the hell is going on here?

"Lord Hokage!" he called out.

The man didn't even flinch.

Panic was starting to set in; he knew he had missed something important he just didn't know what it was. Was this a nightmare maybe, he desperately hoped so but at the same time knew it wasn't. What had happened to him? Had he really been the Fourth Hokage? If so then why was the Third back in office unless he had died?

Minato didn't want to admit it but it would make sense if he died, that would mean he really was a ghost. But he had thought once a person passed they would move on from this world and into another, so why was he stuck here? Did he have some sort of unfinished business he needed to complete before he could move on? Why couldn't he remember his death or becoming Hokage? He then remembered the jacket he wore, of course he would rather wear this then the traditional robes.

He sighed and moved closer to the large desk in the center of the room to get a better look at the Third. He definitely looked older but not a lot older than he had the last time Minato could remember seeing him. So had he been dead for a few years or only recently.

He was roused from his thoughts as someone knocked on the door to the office. "Come in." came the thirds voice and out of habit Minato moved back so that he wasn't in the way, it didn't matter that they couldn't see him anyway.

In walked a familiar dog mask ANBU operative with tall spiky silver hair, Kakashi. From what he could see he was no longer a teenager but looked more like he was twenty or somewhere around there. Why had he missed so much?

"Naruto has been admitted to the hospital for poisoning, Bird is overseeing the treatment. The offender is in custody and is waiting to be interrogated." He said in his usual monotone voice.

Who was this Naruto and why had he been poisoned? Minato turned to look the Third who all of the sudden looked much older and a lot more tired.

"How did they try to do it this time?" he asked in a weary tone.

"The baker gave him a cookie laced with the poison."

"And why did ANBU not try to stop this." He asked giving a glare to Kakashi who wasn't fazed at all by it.

"He's six and very unpredictable sir, even the best of the ANBU have trouble keeping him in sight one-hundred percent of the time. I have to use my sharingan sometimes on him." Kakashi said.

Wait, someone had tried to poison a little child? And what was so important about this child that not only people tried to kill him but the situation warranted ANBU protection.

"Have Ibiki start the interrogation and tell him have fun with it. I will not stand for this any longer, the child has done nothing wrong, why can't they see that he is the savior of this village?" he asked himself.

Unfortunately Kakashi didn't answer, much to Minato's dismay. Who was this child?

"Very well, I will go to the hospital to gather Naruto. I want you to go ahead and secure his apartment." He said as he stood up and adjusted his robes.

"Yes Lord Hokage." Kakashi said before leaving the room.

The Third walked forward but before leaving he turned to the four consecutive pictures on the wall. He walked to the picture of the Fourth, Minato's picture.

"Forgive me Minato." He said the pain evident in his voice. "I wish I could protect your sacrifice as you wished for me too. But I'm afraid they will only see demon and not the boy holding the demon at bay." And with a shake of his head he left the office leaving Minato alone.

"My sacrifice?" he whispered.

So he had died but how? His death had something to do with a boy and a demon. What had the Third said, something about the boy holding the demon at bay? So did that mean he had created a jinchuriki at the cost of his own life?

He needed answers so he did the only thing he could do and ran out of the office to follow the Hokage.


	3. Chapter 3

Minato's stomach felt like it had been weighted down with lead the closer he got to the room that held the little boy. He had managed to convince himself that he had indeed created a jinchuriki, but how could he have condemned a boy, a mere child, to such a fate. It made him sick just to think about it, what had happened to force his hand into this?

He tore himself from his thoughts as the Third finally reached a door and opened it. How emotionally scarred was this kid? Did he hate the entire village; did he want to kill them all? What did his parents think, did they hate him, and did they protect him? There were so many questions and as he followed the Third in through the door he shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Ah Naruto, feeling better already I see." The third said with a chuckle causing Minato's eyes to snap open.

There on the hospital bed sat the little boy who had run through him earlier with the biggest damn smile he had ever seen on a child.

"Believe it Old Man!" he shouted and pumped his fist in the air. Minato couldn't stop a smirk from forming on his mouth at that, since when did the third allow anyone to call him Old Man? "I'm gonna be Hokage one day; a cookie can't keep me down!"

"Speaking of cookies, what have I told you about taking things from strangers?" he asked in a fatherly tone.

The blinding smile diminished to be replaced by a sheepish grin as the boy, Naruto, looked away and scratched the back of his neck. "To not to." he said. But then he looked back up. "It was just a cookie! You should really tell the baker that he used some bad eggs or something!" he insisted.

The Hokage gave him a sad smile as he humored Naruto. "I'll see that he's told."

And that's when he realized it, Naruto didn't know about the demon. But how, unless, unless the Third had created a law that forbid anyone from talking about it. That sounded exactly like something he would do and silently he thanked him for protecting the boy from his mistakes.

"So when can I get out of here? I've got training to do Old Man!" they kid practically yelled.

Minato winced slightly at the volume and was immediately reminded of Kushina who was equally as loud. Kushina? Where was she now? Had he ever asked her to marry him like he had planned on? Was she even alive? Did he even want to know if she had moved on?

The sick feeling returned with full force as he tried to think of something else, anything else. The Third had walked back to the door to talk with a medical ninja so Minato followed.

"Permission to speak freely Lord Hokage?" she asked politely while clutching the clipboard to her chest.

"Permission granted but don't over step your bounds." He warned before glancing back at Naruto who had climbed up into the window seal with his face pressed against the window looking out.

"We did even have to give him an antidote; the poison had already been purged from his system. I thought that was odd, so while I waited for you to come I took the liberty of looking over his medical records and discovered something. This is the second time he's been poisoned, the last one was much stronger but he recovered again in record time. I think that maybe the fox's chakra may be healing him." She said.

The fox? The nine-tailed fox? But that's impossible; Kushina was the container for the nine-tails. There was only one way that this boy had come into possession of the Kyuubi, Kushina was dead. It had broken his heart when Obito died; he had felt sick when he learned of his own death. This was so much worse; his world was shattered with no hope of repair. The physical ache in his chest nearly crippled him.

Minato decided he needed air, not that ghosts needed to breath anyway, but he just needed to get out and away. Maybe he should leave the village and travel, it's not like he didn't have time. Yeah that was perfect, maybe he'd even come across Jiraiya-sensei. The more he thought about it the faster he forced his legs to move to the front gate. He just needed to get out of this village for a while.

The front gates were in sight, it wouldn't be long now. He was at the gates and about to cross over when an invisible wall stopped him rather violently, causing him to be thrown back into the village. He was trapped. Panic began to overwhelm him, what was going on, what had he done to deserve this? Was he supposed to do something here? Why hadn't he been told what he was supposed to do?

XxX

Naruto was excited as the Old man walked him home, after leaving the hospital he had gone grocery shopping with him. He wasn't allowed to fill the shopping cart up with ramen as he usually did but the old man had treated him to some ice cream which was awesome.

They kept walking as Naruto told him about his day and vice versa. The only time he paused was when they passed the front gates. Naruto could have sworn he saw a man pitching a tantrum, but he blinked and he was gone. It must have been a figment of his imagination; according to the old man grownups don't do that. He turned his attention back to the old man and continued to chat away merrily.


	4. Chapter 4

Minato spent a few months in self-pity, mainly walking through the woods inside the walls of the village. He tested his bounds which only extended to the boarders, he also discovered for some odd reason he could still use jutsu. He wasn't really sure what the point of that was unless he was supposed to battle another ghost, as long as it was in the walls of the village that is. Occasionally he would come across someone, Gai was the most often one spotted, usually because he had lost against Kakashi in something or other and was doing two hundred laps around the village on his hands as punishment for himself. Some things never change.

He eventually came to the conclusion that no good would come of him avoiding the village, he supposed the least he could do was catch up on things he had missed. Besides if Gai was the only person he saw, he would go insane. No good could come from that much green spandex and exclamations of youth. Maybe he could even see what Kakashi and Rin were up to. Jiraiya was probably still peeping on women at the bathhouse though and he hoped he hadn't roped Kakashi into it. Last he could remember the super pervert he looked up to had hooked his student to those awful books of his.

By the time he walked back into the populated part of the village it was night fall. He was right next to the Uchiha Compound and a sixth sense he had developed over the years perked up. It was dark but it wasn't late enough for the entire compound to be asleep. He was about to go take a look to see what was going on when the gates to the compound opened and out stepped a preteen kid in ANBU garb. He knew the Uchiha's were famous for their prodigies but a thirteen year old ANBU captain was a little ridiculous.

That developed sixth sense peeked again as Minato watched the prepubescent ANBU glance around wearily. What exactly was this kid up to, or the better question was what exactly had this kid already done?

"Itachi!" called a squeaky voice from down the street.

Minato whipped around to see spiky blonde hair as bright as the sun running down the street. It was the kid, the jinchuriki, the boy he had damned. His bad feeling was getting worse, Naruto needed to get out of here now.

Itachi paused and turned toward the boy after giving another glance around. "Naruto, you shouldn't be out this late." He said in a monotone voice.

"I was out training and lost track of time, I'm gonna be Hokage you know so I have to train." He said flashing that brighter than the sun smile again.

Something on the ANBU's face softened almost imperceptibly but Minato managed to catch it. He couldn't stop himself as he took a few steps closer to Naruto, it wasn't like he could do anything to protect the kid if need be.

"Tell me something Naruto, why do you want to be Hokage so badly. Is it just so the village will know who you are, or do you want the power that comes with being on Kage level?" he asked. These questions were a little too serious for a six year old in Minato's opinion.

Naruto's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to think of an answer. "Nah, I just want to protect everyone!" he said exuberantly and Minato desperately hoped this kid never met Gai.

"But why, what's so special about this village, surely you've noticed the way the villagers treat you?" Minato tensed, as far as he knew this kid wasn't supposed to know about the nine-tails. "Why would you want to protect them?"

"I don't know why the villagers hate me." He said with a frown on his face but that changed back to that contagious smile of his as he turned and pointed toward the Hokage Monument. "But I've got the will of fire and just because they don't like me doesn't mean I won't protect the village with everything I have." He declared. "Becoming Hokage, that's my dream!"

Minato felt a little better knowing the kid didn't let his mistakes keep him down.

Itachi fixed Naruto with a calculating gaze before letting a small, and in Minato's opinion, a very Uchiha like smirk tug at the corners of his mouth.

"That's an admirable goal. You will become strong Naruto, very strong." He said. And then with a sad smile he turned away from the boy. "You should go home now and get some rest."

"Okay, see you later Itachi." He said running off and waving.

Itachi turned around to watch Naruto leave, not saying a word before he left in the opposite direction. Minato was tempted to follow but decided to check out the compound first, his gut feeling was too strong to ignore. He had discovered in his wallowing that if he put forth a little concentration he could pass through objects, so using this new found talent he walked right through the compound wall.

What he saw made him gag. Bodies were everywhere, men, women and children. The entire Uchiha clan lay in pools of blood. Itachi had slaughtered his family in one night and then spared Naruto. Something else was going on here and Minato intended to find out. He left the compound running, first he had to find Naruto to make sure the last of the Uchiha's didn't decide to add another to the body count.

He should have paid closer attention to the direction the kid walked off to. Where did this kid live? Did he live with his parents or was he a random orphan? There were so many questions and he couldn't even ask to get the answers. Not only was life hard but as it turned out death was even harder.

Finally he caught sight of the kid walking into an apartment building. Well at least the kid had a guardian to go home to. He ran a little faster to catch up with the kid as he climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. He really didn't think that Itachi kid would come back to kill Naruto but he didn't want to take the chance. He waited for the kid to open his apartment door so that he could follow him in.

Minato was surprised to find the tiny one room apartment dark and empty. It appeared that he was the only one who lived here. How could the Third allow a six year old to live by himself, especially one who contained a demon? So was this kid an orphan? If so why wasn't he in the orphanage? The ugly truth dawned on him then, no one wanted him.

Minato looked back to the kid who had pushed the only kitchen chair to the small counter by the sink. He turned the water on until it was steaming before grabbing a cup of instant ramen. Minato walked up behind him to see that the cabinet only held ramen; didn't this kid eat anything else?

He tensed as he felt a presence nearby and spun on his heel t look out the only window the tiny apartment had. He was relieved to see the dog masked Kakashi crouching silently out on the window seal. That was right he always had ANBU following him, so maybe the Hokage already knew about the murders.

He turned his attention back to Naruto who had climbed down and placed his ramen cup on the tiny kitchen table. He was sitting there staring at the ramen, willing the three minutes it took to cook to be done. All in all he was kind of a weird kid. The whiskers didn't exactly help him look normal, probably a side effect from the demon. But Kushina never had any fox like features so why did he?

The kid gave a small victory yell as he dug into his ramen causing Minato to smile. At least this boy didn't let anything get him down. Minato took a step closer to get a better look at him, with the blue eyes and blonde hair Minato was reminded of himself a lot at that age. Had he chosen this kid to be the container because he had similar features or had he been the only one available? Now that he thought about it, how did he seal the nine-tails in this kid? Another thing he would have to hope someone knew and would say aloud.

It was official, death sucked.

Since he knew the kid would be alright he decided it was time to leave to go to the Hokage Tower and find out what the hell was going on. Before walking through the door he took another glance back at the boy.

"I'm sorry." He said with a frown.

Naruto's head shot up and he had a noodle dangling from his mouth. "Who's there?" he asked in the high pitched voice of a child.

Had he heard him? Well that was interesting; he'd have to try this trick on the Third. The boy looked around his apartment before shrugging and going back to his ramen. Minato stood there a moment longer before finally leaving the tiny apartment.

It didn't take long for Minato to reach the Thirds office and when he did he almost stepped back out of the room. Inside was Itachi, Danzo, Homura and Koharu all looking calm, the last two looking irritated. The Third himself was absolutely livid and frankly Minato had never seen someone so threatening.

"The Uchiha were planning a hostile take over! What would you have us do, sit around and twiddle our thumbs?" Koharu asked evenly with a sneer.

"Do not forget your place!" The Third thundered. "You are my advisors and nothing more, Danzo you are retired and have no authority to over any shinobi of the leaf village." He glared so hard at the three that he was sure any lesser man would have shriveled up and died on the spot.

"Not only did you all break the law you kept your goings on from me and hid the evidence of the Uchiha's tertiary. As far as I'm concerned you will all be held for treason." Danzo smirked at this and opened his mouth. "Silence!"

He then snapped his finger and a team of ANBU appeared in the room. "Arrest the traitors." He said coldly.

"You'll regret this." Homura said as he was escorted out of the room.

All that was left in the room now was the Hokage, Itachi and Minato. The Third let out a soft growl before turning his ice cold gaze onto Itachi. "And where do your loyalties lie?"

Itachi held his eyes without fear. "To the Village and solely to the Village." He said without hesitation.

The third hummed as he sized up the preteen ANBU. "And yet you slaughtered your entire clan, certainly all of them weren't going to storm the Tower, how can you be trusted?"

"I will do whatever is asked of me Lord Hokage as long as it is for the safety of the village." This kid sounded like a drone but it was painfully obvious that he clearly did hold the village's best interests above his own welfare.

The third was silent for a moment as he continued to stare at Itachi. "Are there any survivors?" he asked with his lip curled, probably thinking of the assassination of children.

"One, my younger brother Sasuke." He said but there was a slight warning in his tone.

Minato turned his head back to look at the Third who was deep in thought. "Why did you spare him, I'm certain you're orders were to eliminate your whole clan."

"Yes Lord Hokage they were, but," Itachi hesitated. "He's my brother and the only hope to redeem the clan's name."

The Third nodded and Minato was sure they were thinking the same thing, that this kid was wise far beyond his years. "You won't be allowed to live if you stay in the village." He said quickly. Minato immediately caught his train of thought as his tone became quieter and more urgent. "Your cover will be that of a rouge ninja who massacred his entire clan, you will give me full reports of any threat that may come to this Village understood?"

Itachi gave a quick nod. "I do have one request Lord Hokage." He said.

The Third raised an eyebrow but made a gesture for him to continue.

"Tell Sasuke what happened. Tell him why it happened and that he is the only hope for the Uchiha Clan."

"Done." He agreed before snapping his fingers.

The rest was a blur as another team of ANBU appeared to take Itachi into custody but they were no match for the kid who quickly evaded them. Minato had to hand it to the Third, he may seem like the grandfather type but the man was not one to be messed with.

A/N

Yes I changed a few things, don't worry its okay.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been nearly six months since the Uchiha Massacre and the trials of the traitorous council. A vague and mostly untrue explanation had been given to the village while only the remaining council, a few select ANBU and of course Sasuke Uchiha, knew the truth. Minato had been rather impressed with the Thirds quick thinking, but then he remembered you didn't get to be Hokage on knowledge of jutsu alone.

He had been so wrapped up in the trials and getting himself reacquainted with the village that he had forgotten all about Naruto. As it turned out no one else in the village could hear him like the little boy could. Minato even suspected that he might be able to see him occasionally. So now the question was, what would he do with this information? He wanted to try to help the kid out because he was obviously being ignored when people weren't trying to kill him. But what if he freaked the kid out, even the thought of disembodied voices creeped him out. He'd have to be careful with the way he tried this, especially with the ANBU always watching over him.

But before he could do anything, he had to find the kid.

He had looked all over the village for Naruto and had been unsuccessful so far. Well that was until he had come across a chunin dragging the now older looking Naruto in the direction of the Academy. Now kids skipped classes all the time, he hadn't but plenty of his friends had, what was so odd was that Naruto had been tied up with rope.

"Naruto you can't keep sneaking out of class just because you're bored." The man said. "And especially not so you can booby trap the jonin lounge."

Naruto booby trapped the jonin lounge? Minato didn't feel the least bit childish for wondering if it worked or not.

"But Iruka-sensei you know I can't do genjutsu, I can't even detect it so why bother?" the little blonde whined.

Minato snorted, he couldn't detect a genjutsu either until after he had made jonin and even then he had been terrible at it.

"What do I keep telling you? You have to practice if you want to learn." Minato decided that he liked Iruka; he seemed to be one of the few in his generation that didn't hate Naruto.

"Ah, you keep saying that." Naruto grumbled under his breath.

Minato smiled as he decided not to follow the kid back to the academy; instead he would go back to the kids' apartment and wait for him as he decided how he was going to do this. It's hard to train a kid especially when you're dead, but he wasn't called a genius for nothing so it was time to put his over-sized brain to work.

When he reached Naruto's apartment he was surprised to see an unmasked Kakashi there in jonin garb instead of his ANBU attire. What was even more surprising was that he was filling Naruto's fridge with fruits and vegetables. Minato remembered the last time he had been here to see that the only thing the kid bothered stocking was ramen. He silently thanked his former student for being one of the few who actually cared for the boy he had cursed. Minato waited patiently as Kakashi did Naruto's dishes and cleaned the tiny room.

After he had finished tidying up the copy ninja walked to the door but before opening he pulled out a kunai, a very distinct kunai. Minato recognized it instantly as the one that he had given Kakashi when he became a jonin. He hadn't realized that he would still carry it around with him and he didn't know why he would pull it out now of all times. For a moment, Minato thought he was going to say something, but he watched as Kakashi shook his head and left the apartment.

Minato was kind of disheartened to know that Kakashi was the only one of Team Minato still alive. He had had hopes that Rin had survived but that had been crushed when he found her name upon the Memorial Stone a few weeks back. He found quite a few names of his friends and peers on the stone, but still, even though he knew she was dead, Kushina's name had been the hardest to swallow.

Minato shook his head to rid him of the depressing thoughts, he needed to concentrate. Naruto would probably be back in a few hours and Minato wanted to have a game plan by then. He wandered around the tiny apartment, trying to familiarize himself with the few possessions the boy owned. He didn't have much in the way of training, maybe if the Hokage had kept his stuff he could attempt to sneak a few scrolls here. He had discovered he could move stuff by accident once when he brushed by the Thirds desk and knocked some papers to the floor.

He added ninja supply and gear to the list of things he needed to acquire for Naruto. Minato walked over to the wall opposite the bathroom where the closet was and poked his head in and grimaced. Orange. Lots and lots of orange. He had seen the kid wearing orange shorts and a vest earlier but hadn't realized how obsessed the kid was with the color till now. This could be a problem, he wouldn't last long as a ninja if he could be spotted a mile off.

He was reminded of the time when Kushina had come across this aweful shirt with bright orange sleeves and then bought eight of it. After five months of the damned piece of cloth her friends had thankfully had an intervention for her and burned them. He had secretly thanked them all so that Kushina wouldn't know how much he had hated the dreaded shirts as well. But he couldn't hold an intervention for the kid, maybe subliminal messaging? It had worked on Jiraiya maybe it would work on him too. He mentally added that to the list of things that needed to be accomplished.

The sound of someone on the other side of the door jerked Minato out of his thoughts as he turned to watch Naruto walk in. Minato frowned when he saw the little boy with his head down. This was the first time he had seen the kid so down. He watched as Naruto locked his door and trudged over to his bed to look out the window. He sighed as he put his arms on the window seal and laid his head on them. He looked absolutely miserable. What could have happened to him between the two hours he had last seen the kid?

"Why am I so different?" he mumbled so low that Minato almost didn't hear him.

He walked closer to the boy to hear him better.

"Why don't I have a family, did I ever have a family?" there were angry tears welling up in his eyes and Minato resisted the urge to say anything, Naruto couldn't know he was here yet.

He had wondered about Naruto's lack of family too, had they died or had they given him up when he had become the jinchuriki. he really hoped the latter wasn't the case, it would just be one more thing to add to the list of things he had done wrong to this boy.

The little boy gave a sniff as he jerked away from the window and crossed his arms over his chest with his chin tucked down. Once again Minato was reminded of Kushina. It was such a weird feeling to see so much of his girlfriend in this little boy. It was weird.

"Okay, no time for crying!" Naruto said with determination. "I'm gonna be Hokage and Hakage's don't cry, they train! Me Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage!" he shouted out as he pulled out a weapons pack and ran out the door.

Minato was left in the cramped apartment with his mouth hanging open. Naruto Uzumaki? Was he a relative of Kushina? It would explain why he had been chosen as the nine-tails container, the two before him were also Uzumaki's. But wasn't Kushina the last of the entire clan? She had to have been her home country had been completely wiped out, so did that mean that she had had a child and with who?

Minato racked his brain trying to think who it was. He brought a mental picture of the kid to his mind he was short (but then again what eight year old wasn't?), had blue eyes and spiky bright blonde hair. If Minato had had blood it would probably be draining from his face as realization hit him like a freight train.

"I have a kid." He said out loud.

It made perfect sense, why hadn't he connected the dots before? Naruto had his looks and Kushina's personality, oh God he did this to his own kid? Why hadn't anyone taken care of his son, did they even know he was his son? What the hell was going on here! How had he screwed up this badly? He really felt like beating his head against the wall but knew it would be in vain.

It was then he made a resolve that his son was going to be the best damn ninja this village ever had!


	6. Chapter 6

Minato followed Naruto out to a small clearing in the woods close to the edge of town. Minato wasn't sure what to think as he gazed down upon the little boy, his son. It was almost like he was a completely different little boy then the one he had seen only a few minutes ago. He had a son, a son he had sealed a monster in and left to the hate of the village. The guilt he was feeling nearly brought him to his knees; everything this child would go through was completely his fault.

Minato looked back up to see that his son was standing before a tree that had bark beaten away on one side. Naruto had taken a very weak stance before beginning to kick the tree. Minato winced as Naruto had to keep regaining his balance. Most likely someone had purposefully taught him the wrong stance in hopes that he would flunk out of the academy all together. Well he would be damned if he would let that happen, his son was going to be Hokage damnit.

The only real obstacle now was how he was going to teach him. There were really only two options, he could either whisper advice and hope he followed or show himself. Revealing himself as a dead long lost father might be a little too much for an eight year old to take. As much as he would love to tell Naruto how sorry he was and how everything bad that happened to him was all his fault, but he knew that now wasn't the right time. For now he would just have to whisper advice. Minato walked closer to his miniature self to get a better feel for where he needed work.

As it turned out working on his fighting stance was only scratching the surface. Someone had clearly gone out of their way to sabotage any chance Naruto had at becoming a shinobi. He really had his work cut out for him. He shook his head as Naruto collapsed on his back and breathing hard. No wonder he was tired, he was spending too much energy on his taijutsu and too much chakra and not enough control on his ninjutsu.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw an ANBU land silently on a high branch just out of Naruto's sight. He had known of the ANBU's presence and hadn't been surprised when he had remained hidden in the trees. He was thankful that whoever was wearing the lizard mask was at least concerned enough to risk a closer look to make sure Naruto was okay. When Naruto sat back up the ANBU melted back into the tree branch beneath him.

Minato watched as Naruto stood back up and gathered his discarded kunai and shrikin and with a sigh he tucked them all back into his weapons pouch. He gave one last glance around to make sure he hadn't left anything out before leaving the clearing and heading back to his apartment.

On the way back Minato observed his son and the way the villagers acted around him. Most would ignore him while others would furiously whisper to those next to them while still others would openly glare and sneer at him. Naruto, to his credit, ignored them completely. But there was this one instance when a father and his son passed him laughing at some inside joke. Naruto stopped and turned to watch them for a moment with a longing look on his face before shaking his head and continuing on his walk.

Minato's heart clenched painfully, why couldn't he be there for his son where it really counted? He could only hope that the few who did see past the demon could make up for his failures. He wished he could remember Kushina being pregnant. He wished he could have held Naruto and rocked him to sleep as a baby. There were so many things he wished for that could never be, why was fate so cruel?

XxX

Naruto wasn't sure what to do. For the past few weeks he had noticed a man following him around, he had seen the guy before around the village but had never talked to him and vice versa. But what was really weird was that no one else seemed to notice that this weird man was following him around. For the most part Naruto had been completely ignored by the village except for a few people, a very few, so this new attention was making him uneasy. And what was worse, every time Naruto caught sight of this strange man he would disappear.

Naruto didn't want to seem like a baby, tattling on the strange man, he was training to be a ninja after all. But he knew he had to say something before something bad could happen. So after Academy that day, instead of going straight to training, he went to the Old Man's office. He weaved in and out of the villagers; he was unsurprised to see the strange man with blonde hair following him. He narrowed his eyes at the man as he disappeared from sight.

He ran past the ninja in the tower without a second look and into the Hokage's office, not even bothering to knock. Belatedly he remembered he was supposed to knock incase the old man was in a meeting. Luckily he wasn't otherwise Naruto would have been subjected to another long winded lecture and truthfully he just didn't have the attention span for it.

"Naruto, what brings you here today?" he asked in his grandfatherly voice.

Naruto looked around him to make sure that the strange man wasn't anywhere nearby. "There's been this weird man following me around." He said. "Do you know who he is?"

The Old Man looked back up from his paper work to look Naruto over. "Does this man wear a white animal mask?" he asked calmly.

"No it's not one of the ANBU that are always watching me, it's someone else." He insisted.

Naruto watched as the Hokage's broke into a violent cough. It took a minute or two for him to stop and catch his breath. "How long have you known about your ANBU watchers?" he asked incredulously.

"Hmm," Naruto hummed as he squinted his eyes and scratched the back of his head in concentration. "Since I was little I guess." He said offhandedly.

The Hokage closed his eyes and shook his head. "Okay, so tell me about this man that's been following you."

"Well he has tall blonde hair, and I think he's a ninja 'cause he dresses like Iruka-sensei but he wears a white coat. And every time I see him he's looking at me but then he disappears!" he finished. Naruto frowned as he realized he had never gotten a good look at the man's face, he was supposed to be a ninja and notice these things.

When he looked back up to the Old Man he was surprised to see that he was very pale with his mouth hanging open slightly. "Are you okay Old Man, you look sick?" he said. The Hokage was not a young man maybe he was dying. "Should I go get a doctor?"

"No! No, I'm fine." He said a little bit distractedly and nervously glanced around. He pulled open a desk drawer and rifled through it before finding what he needed.

From what Naruto could tell it seemed to be a picture but why he had pulled out a picture was beyond him. He sighed and held out the picture for Naruto to see. It was a picture of the blonde man with three kids who looked to be older than him; there were two boys and a girl who had purple markings on her cheeks.

"Is that the man Naruto?" he asked.

"It looks like him, but I never really got close enough to see his face." He admitted and vowed to work on his prowess of observation.

"Hmm, do you know who this man is?" The Old Man asked after a few moments of silence.

Naruto looked back to the picture trying to think where he had seen the man before. The earliest memory he could recall of a guy similar to him was when a man had been pitching a fit by the front gates of the village but he had only seen him distantly then.

"No, who is he?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

The Hokage took the picture back and gave a sad smile. "This is the Fourth Hokage."

The Fourth Hokage? They had studied him in class, but hadn't he died? "Are you saying there's a g-g-g-ghost stalking me?" he asked in horror.

"Don't fret Naruto, ghosts can't hurt you. If anything I'd say that his spirit is watching over you." His sad smile growing fonder.

"But why me?" he asked.

"You'll know when you're older." He said, that was officially Naruto's least favorite answer. "Now don't you have some training or studying to do?" he asked changing the subject before Naruto could object.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest in a pout. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later Old Man." He said before racing out of the door.

XxX

He watched Naruto leave before glancing back to the picture in his hand. Could Naruto really see the spirit of Minato? Maybe it was his imagination or something. After he had sealed the fox in Naruto he was sent to battle in the Shinigami's stomach for the rest of eternity. But just to be safe he would talk with the ANBU, not only about a suspicious blonde man but also about how Naruto has been aware of their presence.


	7. Chapter 7

Minato sighed as he leant against the edge of the teacher's desk. The scene before him was nothing new, his son tied up and sitting on the floor in front of his Sensei while he was lectured on the importance of attending class. His son was smart, but he just couldn't sit still long enough to show others. He was starting to wonder if maybe the kid needed medication for his hyperactivity. But all that aside he was probably the sneakiest brat to ever come out of Konoha, even with his blindingly orange jump suit and in broad daylight where the whole village could see, he had painted the great stone faces and hadn't been caught till after he had finished.

"I'm at the end of my rope Naruto, tomorrow you've got a chance to pass the graduation test but you're going to mess up your chances." Iruka, one of the few who treated Naruto like a normal kid, said.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and stuck his nose up in the air in defiance. "Humph."

Minato didn't even try to hide the smile as Iruka's eyes bulged out of his head. "Fine! Because you missed it Naruto, everyone will review the Transformation Jutsu!" he declared as he turned and pointed to the class who groaned.

Minato felt himself grimace, not the transformation jutsu, anything but that. He watched as the class lined up at the front of the room and Iruka pulled out a clipboard to grade them. The first one to step up was a girl with pink hair and a scary temper, if he was going to be truthful, she kind of reminded him of Tsunade but she didn't really have any skill. She transformed perfectly into Iruka. Next was Sasuke Uchiha, the last of the Uchiha. He was top of the class and preformed the jutsu just as perfectly as the Sakura girl had.

"Good." Iruka said jotting a grade don on the clipboard. "Next, Naruto Uzumaki."

Minato watched as Naruto walked forward and took a stance, the mischievous smirk on his features was all the warning he had to look away as his son transformed. At some point while working on the transformation jutsu he had formed his own jutsu. Minato was half convinced that the Fox might have leaked some of his more impish nature to his vessel.

He bowed his head as a surge of chakra, too much for a transformation jutsu, and a poof of smoke signaled that the jutsu had been completed. There was a moment of silence before he heard Iruka.

"Huh?" he squeaked.

The next thing he heard was Naruto's insane cackling. "Gotcha, that's my sexy jutsu." He said between laughs.

Minato looked back up; this kid was going to get himself killed just from pissing people off.

"Cut the stupid tricks! This is your last warning!" Iruka screamed at him. Naruto didn't seemed fazed by it at all, after all there's only so many times you can be yelled at before it becomes commonplace.

Minato decided to leave after that, it was almost the end of the school day so there wasn't much else he could observe. Besides he needed to check up on the Third to keep himself up to date on the goings on of the Village. He gave one last glance to Naruto before leaving. For the last four years he had been secretly and discreetly training the little ball of energy, he had even gotten so far as to help Naruto set up a routine for training so that he didn't always have to be present. Unfortunately, no one had caught on yet to some of his teachers pointing him in the wrong direction during training so Minato had to work twice as hard to give Naruto tips and remain unseen.

He figured it was probably for the best that Naruto couldn't see him, as far as he could tell Naruto didn't know who he and Kushina really were. How could he tell his only son that he had sealed the strongest of the tailed beasts in him and then left him on his own? He just couldn't do it; he still didn't know all the circumstances so he really couldn't tell Naruto why he did it. He wondered if Naruto would ever be told.

XxX

Naruto waved goodbye to Iruka-sensei one more time before turning around and running back to his apartment. Because he had to clean all the paint off the stone faces he didn't really get a chance to train. Over the past few years he had developed a schedule for his training, he wasn't exactly sure how he did but it had happened just the same.

He remembered a few years ago that the Old Man had said that the Fourth Hokage was watching over him, he wondered if he did that for all the orphans of Konoha. He used to like to pretend he could see the Fourth sometimes but that didn't happen anymore, now he liked to think that he could sometimes hear the Fourth giving him advice and helping him train. Sometimes scrolls would appear in his little training area in the woods or in his apartment that would contain exercises or taijutsu moves in them.

All in all he was convinced that this meant he was destined to be Hokage after all. One of the only weird things was that he had incorporated meditation into his routine, he really didn't see the point of it but he did it every night regardless. another weird thing was that when he had found a scroll on tree walking he had wanted to show his friends at school but when he woke up the next morning he just had the feeling he should keep it to himself. That had happened a few times, when he learned a new skill he would be already to show it off but something always held him back. He didn't put too much thought into it but figured it was his subconscious telling him to wait so he could surprise everyone and show them how awesome he really was.

Another thing his subconscious tried to get him to do was give up all things orange, he decided to ignore this especially when that Ibiki guy said he looked like a real ninja in his orange jacket and pants. At first he thought it was just so they could spot him easier but he still managed to pull all his pranks off flawlessly and even if they knew he was the culprit, they still never caught him in the act.

He pushed all those thoughts out of his mind as he finally walked into his apartment. He closed and locked the door behind him before walking over to the end of his bed. He shrugged his jacket off before taking up a cross legged position on the floor and began to focus on his chakra. Chakra control had always been a problem for him, he had been told countless times he would get chakra exhaustion because he used way too much for the simple jutsu's they taught at the academy. But he had never managed to use all his chakra and when they were given exercises to do so in school, his senseis would always get impatient and tell him to stop before he could. It was frustrating for everyone involved to say the least and was just another thing that marked him as different from the rest of his peers.

Remembering that the final exam was tomorrow, he made a mental note to squeeze in some studying time before he went to sleep. He should have asked Iruka-sensei about helping him study for the test while they were eating ramen. Oh well, no use worrying about it now, besides he was guaranteed to pass, as long as they didn't test on the clone jutsu.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a few weeks since Naruto failed the graduation test and one of his teachers had tricked him into stealing a sacred scroll that ultimately resulted in Naruto becoming a ninja. Since that day he had been placed on Kakashi's squad along with Sakura and Sasuke, needless to say there was never a dull moment with the blonde ball of energy. For a while now there had been something bothering him about Naruto, he couldn't quite place his finger on it but something was different.

Kakashi remembered Naruto as a child; he was wild and energetic, never thinking of the consequences before he acted. Nothing much had changed since he had retired from ANBU a few years prior, the kid still never ran out of energy and he still charged head first into trouble. He had always been a quick thinker with fast reflexes but lately he had noticed that Naruto seemed to be, not exactly smarter in his actions but more conscious of possible outcomes to his actions. And because of his ability to think quickly on his feet and choose the best outcome he was advancing faster than Sasuke and Sakura.

This of course infuriated Sasuke to no end and Kakashi had exploited that to help Sasuke and Naruto push themselves harder through rivalry. Sakura was still too blinded by puppy love to concentrate on being a real ninja, but he had faith that she'd get it one day.

They were currently on mission in the Land of Waves and after a nasty tangle with Zabuza, one of the seven swordsmen of the mist; he was now limping around with a crutch. He had decided to squeeze in some last minute training to help them with chakra control, the tree walking exercise to be more specific. He led his little squad into a patch of woods on the outskirts of the small village to teach them this technique. When he had first told them and demonstrated to them how to climb a tree using only their feet, both Sakura and Sasuke had looked surprised while Naruto remained quiet which was unusual in its self.

The three had all taken positions beneath different trees and on his mark had proceeded to start the exercise. He watched Sasuke run about ten feet up the tree before making his mark and jumping back down to the ground. He looked over to see that Sakura was sitting on a tree branch about twenty feet off the ground looking pleased with herself, out of his team of genin, she definitely had the best chakra control. He then turned his attention to Naruto, whom he expected to be on the ground glaring at his tree he hadn't managed to climb.

But he didn't see Naruto on the ground and he didn't see him on any of the lower hanging branches of any of the nearby trees. Kakashi nearly fell out of the tree when he looked up to see Naruto hanging upside down on a tree branch fifty feet from the ground. He obviously had already learned this technique, but the question was where and why hadn't he shown this ability before.

"Congratulations Naruto, it seems you've already mastered tree climbing." He said and then glanced down to see Sasuke glaring up at his blonde teammate and Sakura staring at him open mouthed.

He really knew he shouldn't be surprised, after all Naruto hadn't earned the name Most Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja for nothing. But even after watching him in secret all these years and the brat still managed to surprise him. It made him wonder if he really would become Hokage one day just like his father; after all, an unpredictable opponent was a dangerous one. But for now he would keep a closer watch on Naruto and his training outside of team workouts.

It had been three hours since they started this little bit of last minute training, Sasuke was still going strong, having managed to get at least seventeen or so feet from the ground. Sakura on the other hand was sitting at the base of her tree and breathing heavily, she didn't have as much chakra as her male teammates, but she had good control over the chakra she did have. If she could learn to employ her excellent chakra control in battle she would be a worthy adversary.

Naruto on the other hand had been doing a more interesting workout. For the first forty-five minutes he had meditated upside down on the branch he had been standing on. He honestly didn't know that the kid could not only sit still that long but also remain quiet for so long. After his meditation he had begun a basic workout of pull-ups, sit-ups and push-ups. The closer Kakashi looked the more he realized he was working against resistance, was he wearing training weights?

Yes he would definitely need to keep a closer eye on Naruto.

XxX

The mission to the Land of Waves was officially over and Kakashi and the rest of team seven began the journey back to the Leaf. Upon learning that the bridge Tazuna had finished building was to be named 'The Great Naruto Bridge', Naruto had immediately begun to gloat to Sasuke. It had only ended ten minutes later when Sakura had flung a well-aimed punch to his head. Kakashi actually hadn't minded, Naruto reminded him a lot of a few of the people who meant most to him in the world.

He had Minato-sensei's looks and determination, Kushina's wild personality and unmatched stamina. Then there was the way that he and Sasuke interacted with each other, it was so reminiscent of the way he and Obito used to act with each other that he couldn't help but smile and wonder how Minato-sensei put up with them. At first, he hadn't wanted to train Naruto at all, afraid it would bring too many bad memoires, but the kid grew on you whether you wanted him to or not.

The only thing that plagued Kakashi's mind now that the mission was over was what had happened on the bridge. He hadn't seen it but then he didn't need to, there was only one kind of chakra that felt that sinister and it had been sealed in a newborn twelve years ago. But then just as suddenly as it had come it had vanished. The whole thing was confusing really, he knew Sakura hadn't seen what happened and Sasuke said he had been unconscious at the time. He needed to talk to Naruto to find out what exactly happened, he just needed to get him away from the others to talk about it now.

When they were about half a day away from Konoha, Kakashi told them to set up camp for the night. Sakura went about preparing things for supper while Sasuke went to a nearby stream to gather water for them all. Naruto had gone off into the woods nearby in search of wood for the fire. Normally Kakashi would have found a place on the outskirts of the campsite to read his novel, which Naruto so affectionately referred to as porn. Instead he decided to slip away in to the nearby woods so he could talk to Naruto without the other two listening in.

He found the mini Minato with his arms full of sticks about twenty feet from the camp. "Naruto." he called out as he drew closer.

"Oh, hey Kakashi-sensei." He said giving him a suspicious look. "Why aren't you reading your porn?"

Kakashi suppressed a twitch.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened on the bridge." He said. "From the time Sasuke passed out until Haku jumped in front of my lightning blade are a complete mystery and I need to know what happened for my report."

"Oh." Naruto said as he looked toward the sky and began scratching the back of his head. "I don't really remember exactly what happened. One second I thought Sasuke had beaten him and then he collapsed and I thought he was dead." Naruto frowned as he screwed up his face in concentration. "Then I got really mad at Haku and that's where it gets hazy."

Kakashi nodded, that must be when the nine-tails chakra leaked out. "What's the next thing you remember clearly?"

"I think I punched him and I was getting ready to punch him again when his mask fell off. It was weird, kinda like all my anger just disappeared when I recognized him as the guy I saw in the woods the day before." Naruto scratched his head and then shrugged. "Then he told me about how his dad killed his mom and tried to kill him all because he had a bloodline limit. Then Zabuza found him and turned him into a tool and because he was no longer useful he wanted me to kill him but just before I could he ran off."

Naruto wasn't the most perceptive of ninja but he was a quick learner if he really puts his mind to it. This was probably the first time he had ever used Kyuubi's chakra and he doubted it would be the last, the ideal thing would be to teach Naruto to use the demonic chakra but Kakashi wouldn't even know where to start. Maybe he could attempt to bribe Jiraiya into coming back to Konoha for a while, if anyone could find him. Should he even mention that he had used the other chakra or just let it be, probably just let it be for now?

"There's just one more thing I wanted to ask you." He said as Naruto looked back up at him. "Where did you learn the tree walking exercise?"

"Uh? Oh I found a scroll for it in this clearing where I train." He said as he bent down to pick up a few more sticks.

"Do you often find scrolls there for you?" he asked. Who was helping Naruto train?

"Not all the time, sometimes they're in my apartment and its mostly just taijutsu on the scrolls."

"Do you know who is leaving the scrolls for you?" he asked, he needed to inform the Hokage about this and maybe trail Naruto for a few days.

Naruto adverted his eyes. "No, I kinda thought it was one of the ANBU guards that are always following me." A liar, Naruto was not.

"Wait, you knew you had ANBU guards?" he asked stunned.

"Well yeah, how do you think I did half the stuff I did without getting caught in the process?" he asked with a toothy smile.

Kakashi snorted, if this kid could obtain some form of common sense he would be a truly terrifying ninja to encounter on the battlefield. Just like his father. He wrapped up their conversation and began walking back to the camp smiling at a memory of when he was in ANBU. Ibiki had been laughing with a few of the captains about how he had convinced Naruto that only the best ninja wore orange. Two weeks later Ibiki's inbox had been full of complaints about how even though the ten year old was in bright orange clothing he still managed to sneak into the jounin lounge undetected to set up a trap that involved yellow paint and glitter. Apparently the kid was so sneaky now Tenzo had been assigned as his personal watcher because of his special tracking seeds that he could plant on the little brat.


	9. Chapter 9

With a huge smile on his face, Naruto dropped his nap sack to the floor before kicking off his shoes and falling face first onto his bed, his glorious bed. He had done survival training with his team where they would spend the night camping and stuff before and each time he had had to sleep on the ground, call him soft but he preferred a bed. A glorious bed. He inhaled the scent of his sheets deeply ad immediately regretted it as his face screwed up at the disgusting smell, definitely time to change his sheets. He rolled over on to his back and un-zipped his jacket before shrugging out of it.

The mission to the Land of Waves had been longer than expected, but at least he gained some valuable insight to the world of shinobi. A ninja was a tool in human form, he of course had known this from his days in academy but until he met Haku he had never really grasped the idea. But he had decided after they had buried Haku that he would change that. When he became Hokage, he would show the world just how human he was, he wasn't a tool, he wasn't a demon he was Naruto Uzumaki!

With a grunt he rolled back off his bed and stripped himself of his cloths on his way to the shower. A good shower always did wonders for stiff and sore muscles. After his shower he had every intention of going to sleep and not waking up until next week. Yeah that would totally work.

XxX

Truth be told Minato had been going crazy while Naruto was away on mission, as far as he knew this was the first time he had even left the village. He knew he really shouldn't have worried, after all this was peace time and an ambush from enemy ninja would be extremely rare. As it turned out they were ambushed, the C-Rank mission was actually an A-Rank mission that Kakashi had decided to follow through with. So Minato spent the majority of the three weeks Naruto was gone pulling out his hair and haunting the Hokage Tower. He had resisted the urge to follow Naruto home and instead followed Kakashi so he could get all the juicy details of how truly awesome his son was.

Oh how the mighty have fallen, if only Kushina could see him now.

He stood off to the side of the Thirds desk so he could properly see the two. The third was reading the written report that Kakashi had undoubtedly written at the last minute, he had noticed that his student had taken on many of the personality traits of Obito Uchiha, probably in tribute to the teammate he couldn't save. Kakashi just stood there and every now and then he would glance over to the wall that held the portraits of the Hokage.

Finally the Third lay down the report and took a puff of his pipe. "Well that was most unexpected but you and Team Seven handled it well." he said. "How did they do?"

Kakashi let out a long sigh. "Sakura," he paused for a moment and rolled his one visible eye up to the ceiling. "Did everything she learned in the academy to do, I'm afraid she's too obsessed with Sasuke to really learn anything new right now. Sasuke went above what you would have expected from a rookie genin when dealing with Haku and the demon brothers, he even managed to push aside his superiority and work with Naruto long enough to free me from Zabuza's water prison jutsu.

"Naruto, however, was truly surprising. Did you know he already knows the tree walking exercise? Said he found a scroll on it in the area of the woods he trains in, he said sometimes he finds scrolls there and in his home to help him train. You wouldn't know who's been secretly training him would you?" Kakashi asked.

The Third bowed his head and blew out a puff of smoke; Minato swore he could see a small smile gracing his lips. "For the past few years now, I've had reason to believe that Minato has been watching over his legacy."

Kakashi didn't so much as blink. "You think Minato-sensei is a ghost and trying to train Naruto?" he asked dryly. The thirds only response was a hearty chuckle. "Anyway, there's something else that came up, part of the unofficial report." He said and the Hokage perked up.

"During the battle on the bridge, when I was separated from Naruto and Sasuke because of the hidden mist technique, I felt a glimmer of the fox's chakra leak out of Naruto. Do you think the seal is weakening?"

"No, the way Minato designed the seal was so that Naruto would be able to access it and eventually use it. You know as well as I do that he never would have placed the Kyuubi in Naruto without building failsafe's into it, even if Naruto wasn't his son." Minato would have blushed had he had blood to do so with, they both held him in such high regard when he deserved nothing but disgust for locking a demon within his son to start with.

"You're right but maybe we could get a hold of Master Jiraiya and he could take a look at the seal, just to be sure, after all Sensei left the key to the seal with him." Kakashi said. Finally, after years of haunting the Hokage's office, he was finally starting to hear details about what had happened during the nine-tails attack.

"I already have three teams of ANBU scouring all the countries for him, but it's for another matter entirely." The Third said, making it clear that he wouldn't go into detail.

But Minato knew why, Orochimaru had been too quiet lately and Jiraiya hadn't sent any more intel on his fellow Sannin. From what he could gather, about three months before he took office as the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru had been found experimenting on humans to create new jutsu's. His sensei's teammate had always given him this weird feeling that said to stay away. He remembered one time he had found Orochimaru leading Obito down the street and had the overwhelming urge to grab his young charge and run as far away from the other man as he could. Instead he had politely intervened and reminded Obito of a non-existent training session he was late for; the fake smile the older man wore was something that nearly made his blood turns to ice.

After a few more minutes discussing the mission details Kakashi was dismissed and Minato left to go see Naruto. When he finally reached his little apartment the boy was fast asleep, half hanging off his bed with his mouth wide open. He smiled fondly down at his son, even now it was hard to grasp that he actually had a son. This boy was here because he and Kushina had made him together, he was all that was left of them in this world. He sometimes wondered if maybe someone had hand-picked the traits between them and split them up evenly in Naruto?

He bent down to one knee and brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Naruto's sleeping face when his eyes opened. Minato pulled back his hand like it had been burned but otherwise remained frozen to the spot. Naruto blearily gazed up at his face and blinked a few times, closed his eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them before blinking a few more times. And then he screamed and fell off the other side of the bed.

XxX

A/N

Okay I really don't know if I want them to talk yet or not. That part after Naruto defeats Pain and Kakashi asks what else the Fourth said, saying that fathers sometimes like to tell their sons stuff was just so heartwarming. Nearly made me cry. So I'm not sure if I want Minato to continue helping from the shadows for a little while longer or not, so please review and tell me your opinions. And yes I know this is short.


	10. Chapter 10

Minato didn't know what to do, this was the first time Naruto had seen him in years, Minato had made sure of that. He knew it was cowardly but he just couldn't bring himself to finally talk to Naruto. Well now was a good a time as any he guessed, he fought back the grimace on his face as Naruto jumped back into a standing position and fought with the sheets twisted around him. It was another moment before he managed to free himself and spun around to point at Minato.

"You're the Fourth Hokage!" he said in a shaky voice. "You're supposed to be dead."

Minato stood up from his squat and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I am dead."

If at all possible Naruto's face grew paler as he tried to push himself into the wall even more. "B-b-b-b-but then how are you here?" he barely managed to stutter out.

"I'm not exactly sure." He said with a lopsided grin.

Naruto still looked panicked but then his face morphed into rage. "How could you seal that, that, thing!" he screamed. "Inside of me?" Minato didn't get a chance to answer because a pillow was hurled at him, but the effect fell short when the pillow continued through him instead of hitting him. "Do you know that I've been alone my whole life because everyone hated me? I didn't even know why until Mizuki tricked me into stealing the forbidden scroll." An alarm clock was ripped from the wall before it sailed through his head.

"Why me? Why couldn't you have picked someone with a family, being alone is hard enough as it is!" this time a kunai flew through his chest and embedded itself in the wall behind him. Minato decided the best thing to do was to just let him get it all out. "Even now that I'm a ninja people still hate me!" a shoe flew just past his head.

Minato continued to stay silent until he saw that Naruto was breathing hard and holding his head. "I know I have no right to apologize to you." He started and restrained from flinching when Naruto leveled a glare at him. "And I wish I could tell you why, but the truth is I don't remember the nine-tailed fox's attack. I don't even remember becoming Hokage."

Naruto gave a disbelieving snort and looked away.

"I woke up in front of the memorial stone six years ago, you're the only one who can see and hear me." He asked he admitted hoping to divert the conversation.

Naruto snapped his neck to look at Minato. "You've been here for six years? Why am I just seeing you now?" he asked.

"Think hard Naruto, this isn't the first time you've seen me." He said, in what he decided was a fatherly tone.

Naruto squinted at him and leaned forward. "Are you that guy who used to follow me around when I was younger?" Minato nodded. "Huh, I always thought I imagined that." Naruto muttered. "So why are you here now?" he asked.

He gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I figure now is a good time to really start training you." He lied through his teeth hoping Naruto believed him.

Minato watched in amazement as Naruto's whole demeanor changed from petulant to wide eyes excitement. "You're gonna train me?" he asked in an awed tone. "The Fourth Hokage, train me? There's no way I won't become Hokage if you train me!"

"Well, yeah, I mean if you want me to that is." He said with a hint of embarrassment. He always got embarrassed when people thought so highly of him.

Naruto jumped over his bed and made to hug him but apparently forgot that everything he had thrown at him previously had no effect, the end result was that Naruto landed on the floor after going through Minato. He stood back up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "He he, oops."

"Alright, off to bed, we start early tomorrow." He ordered and pointed to the bed that now held neither pillows nor sheets. Naruto saluted him before scooping up the discarded bed accessories and bounding onto the bed. Minato took this as his cue to leave.

XxX

Minato found himself standing in front of Naruto's bed at six o'clock the next morning, shaking his head. There lay Naruto, stomach down on his bead drooling all over his pillow, his alarm blaring. Naruto was not a light sleeper and if he didn't train himself to do so then he wouldn't last long.

"Naruto!" he said loudly.

The kid didn't so much as flinch.

What could possibly get Naruto up in this state of borderline coma? Minato could have sworn he heard the imaginary 'ting' of a light bulb over his head. "Ramen." He said the magic word lower then when he had been calling his name earlier.

An ear twitched.

"Would you like some… ramen?"

There was a slight moan as he shifted beneath the skewed sheets.

Just one more push should do it. "The first bowl of ramen in the morning is always the best."

Two bleary eyes opened and Naruto rolled onto his back, wiping the drool away with the back of his hand. He seemed to realize that his alarm clock was going off and slammed his hand down which effectively shut it off. "Ugh." He grunted.

"Rise and shine." Minato said cheerily.

Naruto sent him a squinty eyed glare. "Go away." He mumbled.

"Go away?" Minato asked in fake surprise and hurt. "And here I thought you wanted to be Hokage, you know a Hokage gets up early every morning to train." He said idly. "I guess you don't want to be Hokage as bad as you say you do." He turned and began walking to the door.

"No! Wait, I'm coming!" he said.

Minato turned around to see Naruto pulling his bright orange pants on while taking his pajama top off at the same time, it didn't matter who you were, that was an impressive feat especially at that speed. It was only a few more minutes before Naruto was ready to go, the last part of his wardroom, his forehead protector, he spent the most time putting on.

"Okay, let's go!" he said and took a stance that reminded him a lot of Jiraiya.

"Say, have you ever met a big old guy with white hair named Jiraiya?" he asked.

"I don't think so." He said as he locked his door.

XxX

Naruto stared down at his Gama wallet in despair. The only time he had seen it this empty before was when Old Man Hokage had given it to him for a birthday present when he was five. Of course he had a bunch of cool new ninja gear for training and such, but it also meant he would have to mooch Ichiraku Ramen off of Iruka-sensei until his next mission. The Fourth had convinced him to buy a new set of training weights, a lot heavier than the ones he was currently wearing.

"Okay Naruto, now that you have all your stuff I'm going to start you on the same training that I used to do when I was your age." He said as he surveyed the old training grounds he used to haunt. He looked down to Naruto to see him strapping on the last weight. There were seventy pounds each around his legs and fifty pounds around his waist and on each arm, he could just barely stand. "Okay, since this is your first day with the weights you won't do the full workout." Naruto looked conflicted, like he wanted to do the full workout just not with an extra two hundred and ninety pounds on him.

"For the first week you'll do twenty laps around the field. Next week you'll do twenty-five along with fifty hanging pull-ups. Week three is thirty laps, fifty pull-ups and twenty laps in the river. After that you'll keep adding laps to both your swimming and your running." He said with a smile Naruto thought looked maniacal.

It was official; the Fourth Hokage was a slave driver and was trying to kill him. He would be dead from exhaustion before the end of the week. He looked at the well-worn trail around the training field and sighed. Well, if this is what it took to be Hokage, then he would go up and above the Fourth's expectations.

A/N

Okay I decided the last chapter really sucked so I rewrite it! Enjoy and please review!


	11. Chapter 11

It had been a little over a month since the Land of Waves mission and all was peaceful, well as peaceful as a ninja village could get when one of its residents was none other than Naruto Uzumaki. Currently Kakashi was watching Naruto and his teammate Sasuke spar while the third genin of team seven sat beside him cheering Sasuke on. Today was the first time since they had gotten back from the Land of the Waves that Naruto was up to his same old speed again, which was still no match for Sasuke.

At first Kakashi had thought he had hurt himself or was still recovering after using the fox's chakra. He had been thoroughly surprised and impressed when he had seen Naruto running off to the training grounds that they met at every day, now that wasn't very abnormal, what was abnormal was that it was six hours before he had told team seven to meet him there. So being the good sensei he was, he followed his loud mouthed student to see what he was up to so early in the morning, before light even.

He perched himself in a nearby tree and watched as he stripped off his blindingly orange jacket, Kakashi raised an eyebrow when he saw that the twelve year old boy had strapped on weights around his arms and waist, chances were he had weights on each leg as well. he began to wonder just how heavy those weights were as he watched him run laps around the training field, do hanging pull-ups then finally laps in the river next to the tree Kakashi was squatted in. so maybe the kid really did want to be Hokage, if he kept this up he would surpass him in no time, a very unappealing thought.

Another thing he had noticed about Naruto in the last month was that his hair had grown out making him look even more like Minato-sensei. Who would have thought he'd find someone so much like Obito and Minato rolled up into one highly energetic orange ball. Sasuke was turning out to be nothing like Obito and even when he looked into his sharingan, he couldn't see his long lost friend.

Kakashi pulled himself back to the present and looked up to see Sasuke staring down haughtily at Naruto who was breathing hard on the ground. "Well, I think that's enough for today." He said snapping his book closed.

"Oh Sasuke!" Sakura squealed beside him. "You were so great!"

Sasuke pointedly ignored her and looked away as Naruto got to his feet. "I'll get you next time!" Naruto declared shaking his fist at the Uchiha.

"Whatever, loser." he scuffed.

In true Obito fashion, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and looked away with his nose in the air. Kakashi decided now would be a good time to tell them about the meeting he had had this morning with the Hokage and rest of the jounin sensei. He pulled out three forms from his weapons pouch and held them out to his students.

"What are these, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as she took one followed by Naruto and Sasuke.

"They're forms so that you can take the chunin exams, I've recommended you all to take them-"

"That's so cool!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs and ran over to envelop his poor sensei in a bone crushing hug.

"Hey! Get off of me Naruto!" Kakashi said while trying to push the blonde maniac away from him. After a few minutes Naruto had calmed down enough to let go and stand beside his teammates. "Now if you want to enter the exams then you need to show up to room three-oh-one tomorrow morning with the forms filled out." He surveyed his team for a moment before turning his head and looking off into the distance. "Well I think that's all." He said before forming his hands in the seals for a body flicker technique and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

XxX

Naruto was so excited he didn't even say goodbye to Sakura or Sasuke as he tore off for his apartment, he couldn't wait to tell the Fourth that he was going to be a chunin. Over the last month he had come to view the Fourth as a sort of father figure. He didn't yell at him like Iruka-sensei or the Old Man and he didn't criticize him into working harder like Kakashi-sensei, instead he always stood behind him, offering advice and support. No one had ever done that for him before, it made him feel good, loved even. It was a new feeling and he kind of liked it. Sometimes he even forgot that the Fourth was the one who sealed the Kyuubi in him.

He burst into his apartment, kicking his shoes off and nearly tripping over them in the process. He looked around his kitchen/bedroom and saw… nothing. The man was dead, where could he possibly be, it's not like anyone else could see and hear him. Naruto let out an agitated sigh and plopped down on his kitchen chair, he had a form to fill out and then after that he would search for the Fourth.

XxX

Minato was sitting on top of his head on the Hokage Monument, it was weird to say the least and for the last twenty minutes he had been debating moving to another head but had given up on it, he would be leaving soon anyway as it was almost time for Naruto's training to be done for the day. He wondered if Kakashi had told them about the chunin exams yet, the test was tomorrow after all.

He let a small smile take over his lips. Everyone thought Naruto was a joke; they were all in for a rude awakening when he blew them away. Is training was going steadily and Minato could already tell that he was getting a lot stronger, maybe sometime after the chunin exams he would get Naruto to up the weight. When Naruto was motivated properly he had a disturbingly steep learning curve, which, along with his never-ending supply of chakra made him for a very powerful opponent indeed. He was just like his mother.

Minato sighed as he recalled how last week Naruto had broached the subject of his parentage. Naruto had just mastered the shadow shuriken jutsu and was celebrating with six cups of ramen when he so eloquently asked him.

"Hey you're old right?" Naruto asked with a noodle hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"I'm not old, I'm younger then Kakashi is now." he said a little irritated.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto dismissed him. "But I mean you were around when my parents were still alive right?"

If Minato had had a pulse it would have stopped and his long since gone blood would have drained from his face. "I guess." He said.

"Do you know who they were?" he asked looking up at him with those bright blue eyes that were so like his. This kid really could be dense when he wanted to be.

"Well I told you, I don't even remember becoming Hokage, plus I didn't know everyone in the village. Maybe you should ask Lord Hokage about it." He said, unable to even look his son in the face.

Naruto's face scrunched up in agitation. "I've tried that like a hundred times already! He just says that they died fighting the Fox and won't tell me anymore." After that Minato had quickly changed the subject to something less revealing.

With a sigh he stood up, it was time to see his son and find out what he learned today.

XxX

Naruto checked himself in the mirror again. The Fourth, who insisted he be called Minato, said that he needed a new wardrobe for the chunin exams, something with less orange. While Naruto hadn't been excited about the lack of his favorite color he agreed to it. So there he stood, in front of the mirror on the morning of the exams, scrutinizing every last bit of clothing.

Minato had dressed him up in a tight, long-sleeved black undershirt that had pockets for the weights he wore sown in. now also wore black pants and sandals with his ankles taped. The last and only piece of new clothing he could muster up any sort of excitement about was the dark orange jacket that hung open but still covered the training weights he wore. Minato also said he should grow out his hair some because there weren't nearly enough people in Konoha with spiky blonde hair, secretly, Naruto agreed.

"So how do I look?" Naruto asked with his arms open wide.

Minato cocked his head to the side as he studied him. "Now you're starting to look like a real shinobi." He said and moved his hand to place it on Naruto's head before he remembered it would only go through him.

"So do you really think I'll make chunin?" he asked excitedly.

"As long as you keep a level head and remember everything that Kakashi and I have taught you." He said with a smile.

"Right!" he said. "Oh man, I can't believe it, I'm gonna be a chunin!" he said to himself as he re-tied his forehead protector and checked his appearance one more time.

"Well you better get going; you don't want to be late." Minato said looking pointedly at the clock on the wall.

"Okay, I'll see you later and tell you how it went." He said as he raced out of his apartment door.

It was about ten minutes later when Naruto skidded to a halt in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "Okay, I'm here! Let's go!" he said and grabbing both their wrists, drug them into the building.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she and Sasuke tried to wrench themselves free of their deceivingly strong comrade.

"Let go of me, Loser." Sasuke said, just before managing to twist himself free.

Naruto let Sakura go to as they stood in front of the double doors that lead to the hallway. "Hey, Naruto, are you wearing new clothes?" Sakura asked as she rubbed her wrist.

"Yeah, Min-"Naruto cut off, he wasn't supposed to tell anyone about him being able to see and speak to the dead Fourth Hokage. "A friend suggested I get new clothes for the exam."

"Well its better than that bright orange." Sasuke said as he pushed past him and into the hallway.

Naruto flashed Sakura a blinding smile before following Sasuke into a crowded hallway. Two boys were standing in front of the door they were supposed to go through for the exam while about fifteen more people stood around them. Naruto had every intention of pushing his way through but was stopped when he felt Sakura grabbed his and Sasuke's arm.

"It's a genjutsu, we're only on the second floor." she whispered to the both of them.

Naruto was terrible at genjutsu; he was convinced it would one day be the death of him.

"Don't release it, if these idiots can't tell then it'll be less competition for us." Sasuke whispered back to them.

Naruto was just going to take their word for it and follow them out. Minato had once suggested he had no aptitude for genjutsu was because the nine-tails couldn't do genjutsu and was very susceptible to a certain type of genjutsu. Naruto saw it just as another way the fox held him back. It only took a few minutes but soon they were in front of the real room three-oh-one with non-other than Kakashi-sensei standing in front of it.

"Well, I see you made it past the genjutsu." He said lazily.

"Yeah, Sakura pointed it out right away!" Naruto said with a bright smile and his hands behind his head.

"Well, it's a good thing indeed you came Sakura." He said. "Because I could only allow a three man squad to go beyond this point."

"Wait, you mean if I hadn't come they couldn't go on to the exams?" she asked.

"You saved our butts again." Naruto said slapping her on the back.

"Right, well, this is where I leave you. From here on out, you're on your own." He said. "Good luck."

And with that the three walked through the double doors to the exam that would determine if they moved up in rank or not. Through the doors were about two hundred of the meanest looking genin from every village he had ever seen. If he didn't know for a fact that he couldn't die and he had near superhuman regenerating abilities then he might have been worried, plus the most powerful of all the tailed beasts living inside him. He surveyed the room as a few of his old classmates started talking to Sakura and Sasuke. He was going to be a chunin no matter what!

XxX

He was Gaara of the Desert, the sands ultimate defense and the container of Shakaku. He had never bled and he had never been afraid, but something quiet close to the feeling was overtaking him. Across the room with about nine other people his age was a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, there were strange whisker like marks on his cheeks as well. All in all he looked rather weak, easy to kill. But when their eyes locked for a brief moment he got a strong warning feeling from Mother.

Until he saw this shinobi in action he would avoid him, even if he did look like an idiot.

A/N

Okay I squeezed another chapter out before vacation but I'm leaving at midnight so don't expect any more till august.


	12. Chapter 12

Ibiki stared down at the some seventy genin left in the classroom, all smirking triumphantly at him. The reason a bunch of genin were so undisturbed by the glare he was attempting to turn them to ash with was the overly hyper blonde abomination. Now don't get him wrong, Ibiki didn't care that he was the jailor for the nine-tailed fox, he thought all people under five feet tall were abominations. Naruto Uzumaki was a one a kind of ninja, his academy scores were the butt of many jokes amongst the chunin of the village. But the jonin, especially those in ANBU and the interrogation and torture division knew how sneaky and clever the little brat was. He had absolutely no aptitude for written tests, but not even the Hokage would be able to deface the Great Stone Faces in a bright orange jumpsuit, how Uzumaki managed that with elite ANBU guards was still a mystery.

And now Ibiki turned a glare he saved for interrogations only on the little blonde abomination, he could see every damn tooth in that kids mouth with that infernal smile of his. This brat had been the bane of his existence for the last five years, heaven help him if Uzumaki actually managed to become the Hokage.

Only after Anko decided to make her grand entrance and comment on how easy his test was, did he dismiss the remaining genin. He rolled his eyes as Uzumaki boasted loudly to his two teammates about how he knew it all along, Ibiki had watched the brat sweat bullets during the entire exam. He did give the little blonde brat some credit, he had watched fascinated, when he explained the final question, as the wheels turned in Uzumaki's head. Before even the first genin raised his hand to leave, he could see that the little blonde abomination had caught on and was giving him the same toothy smile he had the time he had been hauled in for questioning for breaking into ANBU Headquarters.

When the last genin left and a few of the chunin began to clean up, he started to collect the test papers. He snorted at a few of the answers the desperate genin had put down before time was up. He finally got to Uzumaki's seat and picked up his test paper, he couldn't stop the chuckle as he looked over the answers, or lack thereof.

"Naruto Uzumaki sure is a one of a kind ninja." He said earning a few odd glances from the remaining chunin.

XxX

Minato waited patiently for Naruto to return from the first test. He had spent all morning preparing a surprise for Naruto, whether he made chunin or not he was going to start teaching his son some sealing. He figured it was only right since he and Kushina had been seal masters, hell Kushina's clan had practically invented it. After much exploring of the Hokage Tower, he had discovered that the Third had placed all his and Kushina's processions in an underground vault that would be given to Naruto when he was twenty. Minato decided that was too long to wait so after nearly using all his chakra he had snuck some beginner sealing supplies out and brought them to Naruto's apartment.

Just when he was about to poke his head through the door, Naruto burst in with a triumphant look on his face. "I passed!" he declared at the top of his lungs. "I get to go on to the second test!"

"Congratulations, Naruto." Minato said, his smile matching that of his son's.

"And you know what? I tricked Ibiki into passing me without answering a single question; I wished I could have seen his face when he saw my test paper!" Naruto was jumping up and down; you couldn't even tell he was wearing nearly three hundred pounds of weights under his clothes. Minato fought passed the moment of shock at how sneaky Naruto was and congratulated him again for outsmarting the head of torture and interrogation.

"Hey what's that stuff?" Naruto asked pointing to the sealing supplies on the tale.

"Hm? Oh right," Minato said having temporarily forgotten about it. "Since you're going to e a chunin now, I decided it's time you learn about sealing." He said.

"Sealing?" he asked a bit thickly.

"Yes sealing. Seals can be used for many things, from the paper bombs you carry on missions to the seal I used to imprison the Nine-Tailed Fox and everything in between." He explained. "In fact for my Flying Thunder God Technique I used seals to transport myself to wherever the seal was, that's why people called me the Konoha's Yellow Flash."

Naruto looked awed as he listened to Minato. "And you're gonna teach me to do seals?" he asked.

"Yes I am. But you need to know that sealing is very difficult and time consuming, in fact, right now the only person in this village that is a seal master is the Third Hokage."

Naruto looked back at the sealing supplies. "Do you think I can do it?" he asked skeptically.

Minato smiled down at him. "I know you can, sealing is in your blood." Naruto's head turned so fast toward Minato that it snapped. "Which brings me to my next gift for you." He pointed down to a book on the table beside the sealing supplies.

Naruto reached out and picked it up. "Uzushiogakure?" Naruto read the title out loud. "What's that?"

"The Village Hidden in the Whirlpools, was the home of the Uzumaki Clan." He watched as Naruto's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "It's said that the Uzumaki Clan were the first to discover the art of sealing and that they are especially known for their longativity." He said, wishing he could tell Naruto about the Namikaze side, not that he'd have much to tell. He'd been raised by his only relative, a distant aunt, who had died while on mission when he was ten.

"But, if I have a clan, then why am I here in Konoha instead of Uzu?" he asked.

"Uzu was destroyed in the last ninja war." he said, remembering how devastated Kushina had been. "In fact I believe you're the last Uzumaki."

Naruto frowned and looked back down at the book in his hands. "Well, I have to make my clan proud and learn all the sealing I can, so let's get started." He said a blinding smile replacing the frown.

XxX

Naruto's head was spinning when Minato finally decided to break so that he could eat dinner. He had started out learning how to make his own paper bombes and how to add to the tag so that there was a bigger explosion, that hadn't been too hard. Next he learned how to seal weapons and rations into scrolls for missions, which was a lot more difficult because if he mixed the seal up for storing weapons with the one he was supposed to use on food then when he summoned the food forth it would be rotten.

"My head hurts." He said as he laid it on the table while he waited for his instant ramen to finish. He sent a glare to the Fourth Hokage when he chuckled at his plight.

"Don't worry Naruto, you'll get the hang of it soon enough." He assured him.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto said as he pulled his four cups of ramen forward, ready to devour it all. "So do you know what the second part of the exam is, because I don't think I can do another written test."

"I doubt it would be another written test." He said. "I don't know if they've changed the exam but when I took it and my genin team took them it was basically the same. The first test was information gathering, the second was about completing a mission with your team and whatever you were transporting or had to collect intact, and then the third test was a tournament where you prove that you're ready to lead missions."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully as he slowed down eating on his final cup of ramen. "So if this next test is a mission, I should bring seals with rations and camping stuff, right?"

He watched as Minato smiled at him from across the table. "I can't help you there, but I don't think it would hurt to come prepared just in case."

Naruto gulped down the rest of his cup ramen and cleared the table. "Will you make sure that I'm doing the seals right while I prepare for tomorrow?" he asked as he put all his sealing things back on the table.

"Sure thing, just remember to seal foods you don't need a kitchen for, like fruits vegetables and meats. Ramen is not something you can cook on a fire." He reminded as Naruto made a bee line for his stockpile of ramen he kept over the sink.

A/N

Sorry for the long wait but the vacation is over now and its back to writing! Please review and I hope you enjoy!


	13. Chapter 13

Naruto bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet as their proctor, Anko, explained the next test. It was just like Minato said, he, Sakura and Sasuke had to take the scroll they were given plus its sister scroll to the checkpoint in the middle of the forest of death. The forest was full of man eating beasts, other genin teams striving to become chunin, plus the added temptation of not opening the scroll. Naruto was just itching to get started and the crazy lady's rambling weren't helping his short attention span.

"So are there any questions?" Anko asked with her hands on her hips and a wicked smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Naruto called causing everyone to turn toward him. "Can we start now?" he received a sharp elbow to the ribs from Sakura while she looked at the other teams apologetically.

"Well, aren't we eager?" she chuckled and pulled out a stack of papers. "Before we begin, I'll need you all to fill one of these out in case you die, otherwise it'd be my responsibility." She handed the forms to Kabuto, the Leaf ninja they had met yesterday, who began to pass them out. "After you and your team have filled them out, you'll line up at this booth and receive your scroll. After that each team will pick a gate around the forest and wait for the signal to begin the second test."

Naruto snatched three forms out of Kabuto's hand, gave quick thanks and began scribbling down on the paper in what was probably his messiest handwriting to date. He waited impatiently for all of thirty seconds before he started hurrying Sakura and Sasuke along. This of course ended in a few insults from Sasuke and a few well aimed punches from Sakura. After three agonizing minutes, team seven had finally completed their forms and Naruto dragged them to the booth where they received a Heaven Scroll.

"Naruto!" Sakura called as she tried to keep up with him and Sasuke. "Naruto! Slow down!"

"Why are you in such a rush anyway?" Sasuke asked him as he ran beside him.

"The faster we find a gate the more time we'll have to plan on how we're gonna get the other scroll." He said right before abruptly skidding to a halt in front of a gate marked twenty. The chunin standing there gave a raised eyebrow but said nothing more.

"How would more time before the test even starts be an advantage?" Sakura asked, hands on her hips as she came to stand beside Naruto and Sasuke.

Before Naruto could say anything Sasuke interrupted him. "Actually," he said, his eyes never leaving Naruto. "He's right."

"You hear that Naruto!" Sakura said her hand on her hip, already in lecture mode. "Wait, what?" she turned to Sasuke, confused.

"Think about it, if we have more time to formulate a plan before we start getting attacked for our scroll, then that gives us an edge." He said. Naruto tried to ignore the curious look he was giving him. "Why did you choose this gate?"

Naruto turned and pointed beyond the gate. "It's right next to the river that runs through the forest." He pulled the map that they had been given out and pointed to the southern gates on the opposite side of the river from the checkpoint. "All the teams at these gates will have to cross the river at some point and the river is the easiest source of food, we can set up traps, either to get an Earth Scroll or eliminate competition."

He looked back up from the map at his teammates who were looking at him like he was crazy. He honestly thought it was a pretty good plan.

"Naruto," Sakura said softly. "When did you get so smart?"

Sasuke spoke up before Naruto could puff out his chest. "That's a good plan, but what about something more proactive too?"

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"How many shadow clones can you make?"

Naruto ignored how the chunin's head whipped toward them at that question and gave Sasuke a wide toothy grin. "How many do you need?"

Sasuke donned a smirk, one of the few smirks Naruto had ever seen from him. "Overwhelm the enemy, Kakashi once told me that when a shadow clone is disposed of the ninja retains all the information of that clone. If you can make enough to keep everyone busy, then Sakura and I can set up traps along the river."

Naruto wanted to high five Sasuke for his brilliance, but knew that it was more than likely he would be left hanging. He turned to Sakura, "What do you think Sakura? Do you think it will work?" he asked excitedly.

Sakura was frowning and looking a little put out but immediately perked up when Naruto asked her opinion of the plan. "I think it's a great plan," she paused and then added. "Maybe it would be a good idea to bury the scroll next to our door at the checkpoint, that way if any of us are caught or someone attacks, then there's no chance of another team getting it." she added hopefully.

"Good idea Sakura." Sasuke said. "We will do that before setting traps while Naruto gathers information on the other teams."

She beamed at both of them and was about to say something when the chunin at their gate spoke. "Okay you three," he said as he began to open the gate while looking down at his watch. "It's time for the second test to begin."

And with that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all jogged through the gate about ten feet in.

"Are you ready Naruto?" Sakura asked as she began to hurriedly sketch a crude copy of the map for Sasuke and herself.

"Yep." He said and took the stance Iruka-sensei had taught him in Academy to gather chakra.

Sakura stuffed the original map into Naruto's pocket before stepping back to stand beside Sasuke.

Naruto placed his hands into the appropriate seal and concentrated as a good portion of his chakra into the jutsu. After another second he snapped his eyes open and shouted "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

XxX

Anko smiled as her watch struck noon, the second phase of the exam had officially begun. Pretty soon there would be screams and explosions from the forest, her favorite part. She was about to turn around when a huge cloud of smoke rose above the forest. Anko took an automatic step back as the white smoke began to mushroom outward and past the twenty foot fence.

"What the hell was that?" she muttered. It couldn't have been an explosion and no genin had enough chakra for a summoning, so what the hell was it?

The smoke began to clear and she took a few steps toward the forest to get a better idea of what had just happened. Running through the tree tops and on the ground she saw hundreds of short little blonde, whiskered kids. She blinked, not noticing that her mouth had dropped open. What kind of genin could make that many shadow clones. Scratch that, what kind of ninja, Hokage or Sannin, had enough chakra to make that many shadow clones?

XxX

The original Naruto along with Sasuke and Sakura had set up camp in the high and hallow trunk of an old tree. Unless Shino had his freaky bugs out, then there was a good chance they wouldn't be found. They had to forego a fire, because not only would it attract the freakishly huge animals but also other ninja.

"Do you guys think it would be okay to go look for barriers and stuff to eat tonight?" Sakura asked holding her stomach, hoping it would muffle its growl.

"Wait!" Naruto said and began digging around in his pockets, pulling out scrolls from everywhere. "I have food!"

"Keep quiet Naruto, a hiding place won't work if the enemy can hear us." Sasuke hissed out.

Naruto ignored him and began unrolling scrolls to see which one had the fruit and vegetables, the meat would have to wait until they could afford a camp fire. Next time he would have to mark these on the outside so he would know which one was which.

"Ha! Here we go." He said and laid four scrolls out in front of him.

"Naruto," Sakura said exasperatedly. "That's not-"

But she cut off when she saw Naruto began to pump his chakra into the middle of the seal, there was a poof of white smoke and three apples and some blueberries appeared on the scroll. He did the same thing to the other three scrolls to summon the food hidden in them.

"How did you know to pack rations, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"I didn't," he lied easily. "But I've been studying seals, and so far I've learned to make my paper bombs have bigger explosions," He took a bite of an apple. "And to seal weapons and food without the food rotting."

"Who's teaching you seals?" Sakura asked.

Now Naruto knew he wasn't supposed to tell anyone about the Fourth Hokage's ghost training him not only in sealing but in every aspect of being a ninja, but right then he just wanted to tell them. To see Sasuke get jealous and Sakura fawn over him. But he made a promise and he couldn't go breaking that promise.

"The same person who taught me everything else I know, myself." He said a bit dryly.

"And why would you think you'd be any good at sealing?" Sakura asked. "In Academy, Iruka-sensei said it was one of the hardest things to master, in fact the only seal masters from our village that are still alive are the Hokage and the Three Legendary Sannin."

"Because I'm the last Uzumaki from the fallen Village Hidden in the Whirlpool!" he said proudly. "The Hokage gave me a book all about Uzu; it said the Uzumaki Clan was known for its longevity and mastery of seals."

"Well, that's all very nice, but let's get back to our mission." Sasuke said. Naruto figured he was just pissy about not being the last of a clan anymore. "Its two hours past dark, do you have any clones left?"

"Yeah, I still have a lot." Naruto said popping some berries into his mouth.

"I think it's time to release the rest of them so we know who has what." Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded and concentrated, the flood of new information was a bit overwhelming and it took him a few minutes to sort through it all. "Okay, the other rookies all have heaven scrolls along with bushy brows team." He paused with his eyes scrunched shut in concentration. "There's three teams nearby with Earth Scrolls, they are all pretty much worn out thanks to yours truly."

"Should we attack them now or wait?" Sakura asked.

"Let's rest for now and attack in a few hours." Sasuke said. "If we can't manage to get a scroll from them then we'll check the traps in the morning."

Naruto put his hands to his temple. "Wait, we don't have to do that. One of my clones found someone in one of our traps and they had an Earth Scroll, the clone took it off the guy and buried it nearby."

"Great, let's finish eating and then go get it and go to the checkpoint." Sakura said.

"Yeah! We'll be the first ones done!" Naruto shouted, only to be smacked on the head by Sakura.

"Try to keep it to a dull roar, loser." Sasuke said as he stood up and peeked out of the rotting tree. "Looks clear, let's go."

Naruto and Sakura followed Sasuke out and stood on the tree branch next to him. "So which way Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Well, um," he said and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"You don't know do you." It was a statement not a question.

"It was the trap with the two logs and vines." He said hoping they knew where it was.

"That was the one to the east of here." Sasuke said looking in that direction.

Sakura pulled the map out. "If we don't run into anyone, then it should only take us about an hour to get the scroll and get to the checkpoint." She said. "Well, unless Naruto forgot where he buried it."

"I know where it is, I just didn't know how to get there from here." He said folding his arms over his chest.

"Let's go, and Naruto, try not to talk." He said before leaping off the branch and into the dark.

A/N

Ok this chapter is a little longer but not much hope you enjoy! Please review!


	14. Chapter 14

Orochimaru watched from the shadows as the Nine-Tailed brat dropped down from the tree branch to the forest below where he had buried an Earth Scroll several hours earlier. The useless pink haired girl took a position a few yards away to be a lookout while Sasuke stayed on his tree branch about four feet in front of him.

It had taken him years of planning and research to get to here, only a few more steps in his plan to seize control of the Uchiha eyes and destroy Konoha. He let a smile curve his lips as he thought about finally killing his old sensei. He glanced down to the kyuubi brat; he looked exactly like Jiraiya's pupil who beat him out for the Hokage title. He would never admit it to anyone else but the foolishness of that old man's decision still made him furious. The itch to kill the Fourth's Legacy was near maddening, but in respect for the Akatsuki and their goals he would refrain.

Orochimaru moved his eyes back to Uchiha who had his back turned to him; he was just standing there, his for the taking. Normally he liked to play with his pray, toy with them, and get a good idea of his abilities. But, he was short on time; he had to be back in Suna to impersonate the Kazekage. He'd love to delegate these responsibilities but, as the old saying went; if you wanted something done right you had to do it yourself. Plus the added bonus of watching all the cogs fall into place.

Now that Sasuke was in such a prim spot all he had to do was bite down and give him the curse mark. Eventually his hatred for Itachi would drive him to seek greater power, Sasuke would come to him willingly, and then the Uchiha Eyes would be his. He moved his hands into the proper seals and pushed the chakra into the jutsu.

XxX

Sasuke rolled his eyes as Naruto began to dig around at the base of a tree. He probably forgot where his clone had buried it, typical Naruto. Lately, however, Naruto seemed to be less inept than usual. He was prepared for things Sasuke hadn't thought to prepare for and had come up with a pretty good plan before he or Sakura even thought too. In fact, ever since the land of wave's mission, Sasuke had noticed a lot of things changed about his blonde teammate. He seemed more focused, stronger and faster, now he was studying to become a seal master. Maybe, after the second phase of the exam he would have a look in on Naruto's training.

His thoughts of Naruto were forcefully driven from his mind as two sharp things dug into the soft skin between his neck and shoulder. His hand clamped down on the spot and spun around, a kunai already in his other hand. He didn't see any enemy ninja or giant animals hoping to have him for dinner. He would have thought it was just his imagination but the burning pain in his neck told him otherwise. Had he been hit with poison? The pain doubled as it spread through his body and he let out a cry of pain as he dropped down to his knees.

XxX

Naruto's body moved of its own accord, pocketing the scroll and jumping up onto the branch Sasuke was on. Sakura was already beside him with her hand on his back. "Sasuke! Sasuke, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"Something… bit me." He panted out.

"Naruto, help me move him!" Sakura said as she tried to pick him up.

Naruto stooped down and maneuvered so that he could carry Sasuke on his back before turning back to Sakura. "Should we wait it out or keep moving to the checkpoint?" he asked.

She bit her lip and looked around her as though the answer would be out there. "The checkpoint is about thirty minutes to the northwest, they'll have medics there who would help him a lot more then we could out here." She said, still not sounding to sure of her answer.

"Well, let's go. We should stay near the tree tops so it's harder to spot us." He said before jumping up to the next tree branch.

They had been traveling for about fifteen minutes when Naruto noticed they were being followed. He glanced over to Sakura who nodded to him that she knew they had company. "What do we do?" she whispered.

"I'm gonna make shadow clones to through them off our trail, make sure Sasuke doesn't fall off my back." Naruto said.

He waited for her to get behind him before he moved his hands into the seals. He created three sets of team seven, the first clone team kept on their path and the other two ran off while the originals dropped down to the ground and ran a head of the first clone team. If they hurried they could get there before the other shinobi caught up to them and tried to steal their scrolls.

Naruto winced as he felt the set of clones behind him destroyed. It was one of the genin from the Sound Village, the taller one. He concentrated more on his clone's memories, he had cannons in his hands that emitted sound, and he was fast. Naruto needed to make a decision now. He knew Sasuke was in was in no condition to fight, and he couldn't very well just leave him hanging on a branch. Sakura wasn't the combat type; she would be more helpful if she could guard Sasuke.

"Sakura, take Sasuke and find somewhere to hide nearby, there's only one guy behind us the other two are still chasing my clones." He said slowing down to a stop.

"Are you sure Naruto?" Sakura asked as she looped one of Sasuke's arms around her shoulders and took control of him.

"Yeah just hide quickly!" he said turning his back to her.

XxX

Sakura dragged Sasuke's twitching body over to a large hollowed out log about ten feet from Naruto. She ripped about a four inch piece of cloth off the bottom of her dress and soaked it in the cool water from her small supply of water before laying it on his forehead. With any luck it would help stabilize his fever, if his temperature kept rising like this he might get brain damage. She pulled down the high collar of his shirt to get a look at the bite.

There were two puncture marks around an odd shaped bruise, was that where he had been bitten? What kind of venom made a bruise like that? Maybe the poison had pooled under the skin. Should she try to remove the venom by cutting the skin over the bruise? She pulled out a kunai and shakily held it over the bruise and puncture marks. But before she could unknowingly make it worse, there was an explosion that rocked the ground.

"Naruto!" she whispered frantically, hoping he was alright. Sakura crawled on her hands and knees to the mouth of the log to peek out.

Naruto was right; the tall ninja from the Sound village was the only one that had caught up to them. He was taunting Naruto, who was a few feet from her, panting hard and kneeling down on the ground.

"You're little friend Sasuke, we were sent here to kill him" he laughed causing shivers to run down her spine. "But first I think I'll kill you're pretty pink haired teammate, then Sasuke, and I'll let you watch."

"No." if Sakura hadn't been so close she wouldn't have heard it. "I won't let you." Naruto said louder. "I won't let you hurt my friends!"

The Sound Ninja laughed but Sakura didn't pay much attention to him, something foul and full of rage and hatred had filled the air. At first she had thought it was the Sound Shinobi, but then she saw Naruto. Orange-red chakra swirled around him and licked at his body like flames. She watched in horror, as his hair grew longer, wilder, and his hands turned claw like. There was a hiss of steam and Sakura shifted to get a better look, his scrapes and cuts were healing themselves. Was this a bloodline trait? He did say he was he was part of a clan. The sinister chakra held her rooted to the spot, she wasn't even sure if she was still breathing.

"You can't kill my friends," his voice had turned gravely, animal like. "Because I'm gonna kill you!" he shouted.

Sakura didn't know what was happening to Naruto, but she wanted it to stop, she needed it to stop. He was Naruto, the goofball who kept everyone on their toes. But now he was a monster, something had taken over him and she was helpless to stop it.

He crouched down low like an animal before disappearing in a burst of speed that, neither she nor the Sound Ninja could see. And then Naruto was behind the sound shinobi and sent a bone crushing kick to his ribs, followed up by a punch to the face. The other ninja smashed into a tree fifteen yards away with a force so great the tree splintered at the point of impact. But Naruto, or the monster that had hold of him wasn't through yet, he ran forward again and pulled the other ninja from the tree and swung him around.

Even from the distance Sakura was she could hear the sickening pops of his shoulder and elbow dislocating. Naruto punched him again and again. He grabbed him by the other arm and swung him into another tree and Sakura winced as those joints, too, were dislocated.

She couldn't take it anymore, she had to stop him. She needed the old Naruto back. With a force of will greater then she thought she was capable of she forced herself to her feet and ran out. "Stop!" she called. "Please, Naruto, stop!" she was crying now, unable to stop.

Naruto stopped three feet away from the Sound Ninja and what she saw made her heart stop in fear. The whisker like marks he had had on his cheeks for as long as she had known him had thickened. His mouth had grown wider and long sharp fangs were bared. His wide blue eyes that could out shine the sun were now more narrow with slit like pupils and red, blood red.

She forced herself to talk to him. "Naruto, please, he's not going to hurt us anymore. Please Naruto, don't do this." She begged him.

For a moment he looked confused, then he blinked and it was like the red chakra had never taken over. His eyes were blue, his teeth smaller, his hair shorter and his nails short and un-pointed. He looked worriedly at her then back at the Sound Ninja.

"Are you okay, Sakura? Why are you crying?" he asked jogging over to her.

She didn't feel her mouth drop slightly; did he really not know what had just happened? Should she ask him about the red chakra, would he even know? The look of genuine curiosity and worry told her just to wait to speak with Kakashi-sensei.

"N-nothing." She lied and turned around to look at where she had hidden Sasuke. "Let's go before the others catch up to us."

Naruto didn't look convinced but nodded just the same. All she could do now was hope he didn't try to pester her about it or turn into that monster again.

A/N

Hope you enjoyed, please review! And no this will not be a Naruto/Sakura fic, what little romance there is in this will be with Hinita!


	15. Chapter 15

It had been three days since Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had finished the second phase of the exam. Kakashi and Anko had hauled Sasuke off to some medical room in the building where Naruto and Sakura couldn't visit him. Ever since they had finished Sakura had been acting weird around him, like she was afraid. They had spent most of their time hanging out with Kiba, Shino and Hinita, then Ino, Shikamaru and Choji when the finished. Bushy Brow and his team also spent some time with them while they waited for the other teams to finish. The only weird thing, besides Sakura avoiding him, was that short redheaded kid from the Sand Village.

Whenever Naruto looked over to his team that kid would always be staring at him, as though waiting for him to do something, it reminded him if the was some of the teachers at the Academy stared at him. Did this kid know about the fox too? Nah, no one his age was supposed to know about the fox. He probably just knew how awesome of a ninja he really was.

Finally it was the last day of the second phase of the exam and Sasuke had walked in just as they were all lining up. He looked paler than usual and a bit thinner too but just as sulky as always.

"Okay you maggots." Anko called out before her. "Congratulations on passing the second phase of the exam, you all did well. Unfortunately not all of you will make it to the final round."

"What?" Naruto heard Shikamaru call out next to him. "After all that and only some of us get to go on?"

"Quiet down, Nara." Anko said. "Too many of you passed and the rules say that we have to have an elimination round before we can continue. Each contestant will be paired up at random with another contestant, the winner will move onto the next round. Now before we begin, if there's anyone who doesn't think they can fight if called on, then please raise your hand and withdraw now."

Naruto rolled his eyes, who in their right mind would withdraw now? To his right a hand shot up and he recognized it as belonging to Kabuto, the genin from the first exam. Oh well, like Sasuke said, less competition for them. He looked away from Kabuto back up to Old Man Hokage who was watching Kabuto curiously.

"Alright let's get started." She said and turned to the huge screen behind her. Sasuke and one of Kabuto's teammate's names appeared on the screen. "You two stay down here, everyone else leave the arena."

Naruto turned around. "You better win, because I still have to beat you in the finals." He said.

"Whatever loser." Sasuke said, but anyone could see the small smile he had for his comrade.

XxX

Sasuke of course won his fight; Shino won the next fight against the sound genin Naruto had fought in the forest. After them the last member of Kabuto's team and the sand genin with the purple makeup fought, Naruto made a mental note to learn about puppet master techniques as the sand shinobi won his fight. The next match was truly pathetic; Naruto shook his head as he watched what was basically reduced to a slap fight between Ino and Sakura.

The fifth match was against busy brows teammate Tenten and the female sand ninja, ironically the only one that didn't wear makeup. Tenten was brutally beat making Naruto want to fight the female sand genin to see how he fared. The next fight was against the girl sound genin and Shikamaru, Naruto knew even before the fight started that Shikamaru would win, he was a lot smarter than he let on.

Finally it was Naruto's turn, he had been set up against Kiba and Akamaru which he thought was grossly unfair but then again he could produce a whole army with one jutsu.

"You ready to lose Naruto?" Kiba asked with a twisted smile that showed off his elongated canine teeth. Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Yeah right, I'm gonna leave you and your puppy in the dust." He declared.

"Go Naruto!" he heard Sakura cheer from the sidelines.

That was all he needed before he charged at Kiba with a kunai in hand. He heard Kiba mutter something about a transformation and before he knew what was going on Akamaru had transformed into an exact replica of Kiba. He skidded to a halt a few feet away from the two; the best thing would be to get them to turn on each other. He knew from experience that Kiba's clan was renowned for their ability to track people with their noses so that might be tricky. He would have to wear the duo down a bit before he attempted that.

He jumped back to reassess the situation.

A sudden thought jumped to the forefront of his mind. People had always said just one of him was a handful. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted out pushing chakra into his hand seal. Before Kiba could blink he was surrounded by fifteen Naruto. What he didn't know is that the real Naruto was on the ceiling above the arena. Those clones would distract Kiba and Akamaru, and hopefully wear them out enough for his next attack.

Naruto watched as each clone dispersed one by one until just Akumaru and Kiba were left in the arena.

"Where'd you go Naruto, not hiding are you?" Kiba taunted.

His training with the Fourth had taught him not to rise to the taunts of others, even if he really did want to. It would be worth the look on Kiba's face when he won their match. He put his hands into the appropriate seals and pumped chakra to them after he threw a shuriken at Kiba. The shuriken multiplied from one to a hundred in the blink of an eye.

Kiba never saw it coming and even if he did would never have been able to doge them all. Naruto jumped back to the ground landing a few yards from Kiba and Akamaru who were steadily pulling the shuriken from their bodies. He knew they hadn't broken a sweat when dealing with his clones but the definite blood loss would hinder them greatly from here on out. Now to wear them down.

He put his hands together for the shadow clone jutsu; he would have them running all over the place trying to keep up. The only problem he would have is if they used their tunneling fang technique, he couldn't outrun it but then again it wasn't very accurate. A smile formed on his lips as he thought of the perfect finishing taijutsu move.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted a second time, producing three clones.

One of his clones grabbed him and hurled him up high while the other two did the same. He called forth another shadow clone while the one next to him mimicked his actions, in unison they used the new clones as leverage and jumped of their backs while four more clones kept Kiba and Akamaru distracted. He and his parallel clone landed a couple of yards behind the other duo. With two last shadow clones, he and the other clone were shot like cannons directly behind Kiba and Akamaru.

"Straight from the teachings of Kakashi-sensei," They yelled in unison with their hands formed in the tiger seal. "Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" both Naruto's shoved chakra to their finger tips before following through.

The scream of dual pain and humiliation echoed throughout the arena.

XxX

Sakura stared a moment longer at what Naruto had just done before snapping her mouth shut and turning around to her Sensei. "You two are just idiots!" she declared with her arms crossed before distancing herself from him, Ino nodding right along with her.

Kakashi couldn't help the smile, only Naruto would use that in a real fight.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki." Said the third proctor, trying to hold back a smile and failing.

"Congratulations Naruto on winning your match!" Rock Lee shouted from the sidelines. "I look forward to battling your unique style in the final rounds!"

Garra frowned trying to decide if he was a threat or an idiot.

Hinita and Kurenai blushed several colors of red while Asuma and Gai chuckled.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the sheer idiocy of the entire technique.

A/N

I know its short but I really wanted to update for yall, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing the last part of the fight scene between Naruto and Kiba. I know he uses this on Garra but I always wanted to see him use it in front of others because it cracks me up. Please review!


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